Militants in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip fired rockets at Israel on Thursday, in a sharp escalation of tensions after Israeli police forcibly removed Palestinian worshippers from Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque for the second consecutive day.
Israel’s military said 34 rockets had been launched from Lebanon, in the biggest barrage from the country since 2006. Israel’s air defence intercepted 25 rockets, but at least five landed in Israel and paramedics said three people had been injured.
The UN’s peacekeeping force said the situation was “extremely serious”. Israel’s security cabinet was due to meet later on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, militants in Gaza, the blockaded coastal strip controlled by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, launched seven surface-to-air rockets. All the rockets from Gaza exploded in the air and there were no reports of casualties.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rare rocket fire from Lebanon. Militant group Hizbollah, whose Iran-backed paramilitary is the most powerful in Lebanon and has ties to Palestinian groups, is regarded by Israel as one of its main adversaries. It fought a war against Israel in 2006. Both Hizbollah and Palestinian groups in Lebanon are suspected to have been behind previous cross-border incidents.
The rocket salvos followed a second night of tension at al-Aqsa, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, with Israeli police entering the hilltop compound to remove Muslim worshippers who had tried to stay in the mosque overnight.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said that six people had been injured at al-Aqsa, and that two had been hospitalised, one with an injury from a rubber bullet, and another with a blunt trauma injury. Police said they had responded to youths throwing fireworks and stones.
Shortly before the rocket fire from Lebanon, Hizbollah condemned the treatment of Palestinians at al-Aqsa, calling it “a flagrant violation of believers in Jerusalem”. It said it backed “all moves by Palestinian people and resistance to defend worshippers and deter the Israeli aggression”.
The al-Aqsa compound, which is the third holiest site in Islam and the holiest in Judaism, is one of the most sensitive places in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Clashes there have sparked broader conflagrations, including an 11-day war between Israel and militants in Gaza two years ago.
Israel has occupied both the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including the Old City where the al-Aqsa compound is located, since 1967.
Under the so-called status quo agreement, both Muslims and non-Muslims can visit the site, but only Muslims are allowed to pray there. In recent years, however, Jewish groups have also prayed there, stoking anxiety among Muslims that the status quo was being eroded.
Those fears have been exacerbated by the presence of ultranationalists — such as Itamar Ben-Gvir, a settler who has long called for Jewish prayer at al-Aqsa — in Israel’s hardline new government. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted on Wednesday that the status quo would not change.
Wednesday night’s unrest was less intense than the previous night, when footage of heavily armed Israeli forces entering the mosque and beating Palestinians with rifle butts and batons sparked outrage in the Arab world, as well as an exchange of fire between militants in Gaza and Israel.
The US Office of Palestinian Affairs said on Wednesday it was “alarmed by the shocking scenes in al-Aqsa Mosque and rockets launched from Gaza toward Israel”.
“We call for restraint and de-escalation to allow peaceful worship and to protect the sanctity of the holy sites,” it added.
The violence, which erupted as Muslims celebrated the holy month of Ramadan and Jews began the week-long Passover festival, follows a year of heightened Israeli-Palestinian tensions that has raised fears of a broader conflict.
In the past year, Israeli forces have killed more than 250 Palestinians in the West Bank, while Palestinians have killed more than 40 Israelis.
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