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Over the past week, Israeli police have repeatedly fired a foul-smelling liquid known as skunk water that lingers through the night to try to disperse the demonstrators.

The standoff has seen violent clashes around the walled Old City and on Monday led to rocket fire by Gaza militants, drawing Israeli airstrikes on Gaza that health officials there said killed nine Palestinians. read more

It has also made Sheikh Jarrah an emblem of what Palestinians see as an Israeli campaign to force them out of East Jerusalem.

A tree-lined area of sandstone homes, foreign consulates and luxury hotels, Sheikh Jarrah lies about 500 metres (550 yards) from the Old City's Damascus Gate.

It is named after a personal physician to Saladin, the Muslim conqueror who seized Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187.

Israel seized the Old City, and the rest of East Jerusalem and the adjacent West Bank, in a 1967 war. It sees all Jerusalem as its capital, including Sheikh Jarrah, which contains a site revered by religious Jews as the tomb of an ancient high priest.

Palestinians live in most of Sheikh Jarrah's homes, but Israeli settlers have moved in to some of its properties, saying they were owned by Jews before the 1948 Israeli-Arab war that followed the end of the British Mandate for Palestine.

Nabil al-Kurd, 77, is among the Palestinians facing eviction from the neighbourhood's Othman Ibn Affan street after a long legal battle.

"Israel will not be satisfied until it kicks me out of the house I've lived in almost my entire life," he said.

Half of his house taken over by Israeli settlers after a legal battle in 2009. A wall now divides him and his family from the settlers, and his hopes of staying are pinned on Israel's Supreme Court. read more

Israel's government has played down any state involvement, portraying it as a real estate dispute between private parties.

"SETTLERS OUT!"

On Monday, Arab Israeli lawmakers were among protesters, some of them chanting "Settlers out!", who faced off with several ultra-nationalist Israeli politicians along Othman Ibn Affan street. Police kept them apart.

The Palestinians have lived in Sheikh Jarrah since they were re-housed there in the 1950s by Jordan after fleeing or being forced to abandon their homes in West Jerusalem and Haifa during the fighting around Israel's creation in 1948.

The settlers who filed the lawsuit over Othman Ibn Affan street said they bought the land from two Jewish associations that purchased it at the end of the 19th century.

A lower Israeli court found in favour of the settlers under an Israeli law that allows Jews to reclaim ownership of property lost in 1948. No such law entitles Palestinians to do the same in West Jerusalem or other parts of Israel.

"Our families came here as refugees. It's happening all over again," said Sheikh Jarrah resident Khaled Hamad, 30.

At a settlers' house across the street, an Israeli said the Supreme Court had rewarded Palestinians by delaying a hearing on the case as tensions rose.

"If anything they should have moved the ruling up," said the settler, who gave his name only as Yaakov.

The United States is among critics of the evictions, raising the prospect of them becoming a diplomatic liability for Israel.

Anti-eviction protests have been held in Palestinian cities across the West Bank and by Arab Israelis in Haifa and Nazareth.

Arab lawmaker Ahmad Tibi showed his support by coming to Othman Ibn Affan street. Support has poured out on social media.

Salem Barahmeh, a member of the Palestinian youth movement Generation for Democratic Renewal, said Sheikh Jarrah was "mobilising young Palestinians in Palestine and all over the world." (Reuters)

Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi is expected to attend her next court hearing in person, her chief lawyer said on Monday, after weeks of stalled virtual proceedings over charges her supporters say are fabricated.

Since her arrest hours before a Feb. 1 military coup, Suu Kyi has been held at her residence in Naypyitaw and faces numerous, mostly minor charges filed in two courts, the most serious under a colonial-era official secrets act, punishable by 14 years in prison.

"The presiding judge declared that by the instruction of the Union Supreme Court, the cases were to be heard in person, not virtually by video conferencing," her legal team head, Khin Maung Zaw, said in a text message, referring to Monday's hearing.

He said the judge "told us that the problem will eventually be solved", and that Suu Kyi asked what the judge meant by "eventually".

Suu Kyi, 75, has been permitted to speak with lawyers only via a video link in the presence of security personnel. Her co-defendant is Win Myint, the ousted president.

Her lawyers have said they have discussed with Suu Kyi only her legal case and do not know the extent to which she is aware of the crisis in her country.

Khin Maung Zaw said his team was seeking access to Suu Kyi before the next hearing on May 24, without interference of others.

He said he reminded the judge "that it is the undeniable right of the defendants to meet and give instructions to the defence counsel in a private meeting". (Reuters)

The Indian government has told doctors to look out for signs of mucormycosis or “black fungus” in COVID-19 patients as hospitals report a rise in cases of the rare but potentially fatal infection.

The state-run Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said at the weekend that doctors treating COVID-19 patients, diabetics and those with compromised immune systems should watch for early symptoms including sinus pain or nasal blockage on one side of the face, one-sided headache, swelling or numbness, toothache and loosening of teeth.

The disease, which can lead to blackening or discolouration over the nose, blurred or double vision, chest pain, breathing difficulties and coughing blood, is strongly linked to diabetes. And diabetes can in turn be exacerbated by steroids such as dexamethasone, used to treat severe COVID-19.

"There have been cases reported in several other countries - including the UK, U.S., France, Austria, Brazil and Mexico, but the volume is much bigger in India," said David Denning, a professor at Britain's Manchester University and an expert at the Global Action Fund for Fungal Infections (GAFFI) charity.

"And one of the reasons is lots and lots of diabetes, and lots of poorly controlled diabetes."

India has not published national data on mucormycosis but has said there is no major outbreak. Media reports have pointed to cases in Maharashtra and its capital Mumbai, and Gujarat.

Aparna Mukherjee, a scientist at ICMR, said: "It's not something to panic about, but you have to be aware of when to seek consultation."

But it is a complication that India's overwhelmed hospitals, desperately short of beds as well as the oxygen needed for severely ill COVID-19 patients, could do without.

Arunaloke Chakrabarti, head of the Center of Advanced Research in Medical Mycology in the Indian city of Chandigarh and an adviser to GAFFI, said that even before COVID-19, mucormycosis was more common in India than in most countries, "partly because of the millions who have diabetes".

He said serious cases might require specific antifungal therapy and several operations.

P Suresh, head of opthalmology at Fortis Hospital in Mulund, Mumbai, said his hospital had treated at least 10 such patients in the past two weeks, roughly twice as many as in the entire year before the pandemic.

All had been infected with COVID-19 and most were diabetic or had received immunosuppressant drugs. Some had died, and some had lost their eyesight, he said. Other doctors spoke of a similar surge in cases.

"Previously if I saw one patient a year, I now see about one a week," said Nishant Kumar, a consultant ophthalmologist at Hinduja hospital in Mumbai, noting the potential for contamination of oxygen pipes and humidifiers in hospitals.

Denning called it a "triple whammy". "You've got a high rate of mucormycosis, you've got a lot of steroids - maybe too much - being used, and then you've got diabetes which is not being well controlled or managed." (Reuters)

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired rockets toward the Jerusalem area and southern Israel on Monday, carrying out a threat to punish Israel for violent confrontations with Palestinians in Jerusalem.

The Gaza health ministry said nine Palestinians, including three children, were killed "in a series of strikes in northern Gaza". It did not explicitly blame Israel for the deaths, in an area that has been a staging ground for militants' cross-border rocket attacks.

Rocket sirens sounded in Jerusalem, in nearby towns and in communities near Gaza minutes after the expiry of an ultimatum from the enclave's ruling Hamas Islamist group demanding Israel stand down forces in the al Aqsa mosque compound and another flashpoint in the holy city.

As Israel celebrated "Jerusalem Day" earlier on Monday, marking its capture of eastern sections of the holy city in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, violence erupted at the mosque, Islam's third most sacred site.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said more than 300 Palestinians were injured in clashes with police who fired rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas in the compound, which is also revered by Jews at the site of biblical temples.

The skirmishes, in which police said 21 officers were also hurt, at al Aqsa had died down by the 6 p.m. (1500 GMT) deadline Hamas had set.

Rockets fired from Gaza last hit the Jerusalem area during a 2014 war between Israel and Palestinian militants in the territory.

"The terrorist organisations crossed a red line on Jerusalem Day and attacked us, on the outskirts of Jerusalem," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech.

"Israel will respond very forcefully. We will not tolerate attacks on our territory, our capital, our citizens and our soldiers. Whoever strikes us will pay a heavy price," he said.

International efforts to stem the violence appeared to have already begun. A Palestinian official told Reuters that Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations, which have mediated truces between Israel and Hamas in the past, were in contact with the group's leader Ismail Haniyeh.

Israeli Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Conricus said that on Monday, at least six of the 45 rockets fired from Gaza were launched towards Jerusalem's outskirts, where a house was hit. No casualties were reported.

"We have started to attack Hamas military targets," Conricus said in a briefing to foreign reporters, putting no timeframe on any Israeli offensive. "Hamas will pay a heavy price."

He said Israel had carried out an air strike in northern Gaza against Hamas militants and was looking into reports that children were killed.

"We had multiple events of rockets fired by Gaza terrorists falling short. This might be the same," Conricus said.

Along the fortified Gaza-Israeli border, a Palestinian anti-tank missile fired from the tiny coastal territory struck a civilian vehicle, injuring one Israeli, he said.

Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks.

"This is a message the enemy should understand well," said Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for Hamas's armed wing.

VIOLENCE AROUND AL AQSA MOSQUE

The hostilities caught Netanyahu at an awkward time, as opponents negotiate the formation of a governing coalition to unseat him after an inconclusive March 23 election.

For Hamas, some commentators said, its challenge to Israel was a sign to Palestinians, whose own elections have been postponed by President Mahmoud Abbas, that it was now calling the shots in holding Israel accountable for events in Jerusalem.

Recent clashes in Jerusalem have raised international concern about wider conflict, and the White House called on Israel to ensure calm during "Jerusalem Day". L8N2MX0K2

The Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem has also been a focal point of Palestinian protests during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Several Palestinian families face eviction, under Israeli court order, from homes claimed by Jewish settlers in a long-running legal case.

In an effort to defuse tensions, police changed the route of a traditional Jerusalem Day march, in which thousands of Israeli flag-waving Jewish youth walk through the Old City. They entered through Jaffa Gate, bypassing the Damascus Gate outside the Muslim quarter, which has been a flashpoint in recent weeks.

Police rushed the marchers to cover at Jaffa Gate after the sirens went off.