Palestinian Militants Fire Dozens of Rockets at Jerusalem as Violence Soars

Palestinian militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip fired dozens of rockets at the Jerusalem area and southern Israel on Monday, as weeks of confrontations exploded on two fronts on the day Israel celebrated its control over the contested holy city.

Two houses outside Jerusalem were slightly damaged and an antitank missile struck a car in southern Israel, slightly wounding one person. In all, more than 50 rockets were fired, and Israel launched a wave of airstrikes in Gaza in retaliation, according to military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Conricus. Gaza officials and Israel both reported militant casualties in the coastal strip. The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said in an update that 20 Palestinians were killed, including 9 children and 65 injured.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Gaza militants of crossing a “red line” with the rocket attacks in Jerusalem’s direction and warned that “we won’t put up with harm done to our land, our capital, our citizens and our soldiers.” He predicted that the current round of violence could last for “some time.”

The start of the rocket fire coincided with a 6 p.m. deadline Hamas had set for Israel to vacate the Al-Aqsa mosque, a Jerusalem shrine that hours earlier had been the site of one of the most serious clashes between Israel and the Palestinians in years.

“Al-Qassem Brigades are now firing missiles against the enemy in occupied Jerusalem in response to its crimes and aggression against the holy city and the harassment of our people in Sheikh Jarrakh and the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” a spokesman for Hamas’s military wing, Abu Obeidah, said in a statement after the initial volley.

Sheikh Jarrakh is a traditionally Arab neighborhood in east Jerusalem that has become a recent flashpoint for violence over Israeli plans to evict some longtime Palestinian residents from their homes.

The U.S. said it was continuing to closely monitor the violence. “We have serious concerns about the situation,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.

Jerusalem has been experiencing its worst unrest in years since the beginning of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan more than three weeks ago. Israeli restrictions on gathering at a traditional Ramadan meeting place outside the Old City touched off the tensions, but after they were lifted, protests were rekindled by the threatened evictions.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry accused Palestinian leaders of stirring up riots.

The violence is flaring at a time when Netanyahu’s rivals are trying to piece together a government after the fourth election in two years, and it could have a dramatic impact on those efforts. Channel 11 reported that Netanyahu’s opponents have halted their advanced coalition talks to give the government support for any kind of military action it deems necessary.

Air raid sirens pierced the air over Jerusalem for the first time since 2014, and the mosque compound, which is also the location of the biblical Jewish temple, was vacated, as was the parliament building, Israel media reported. In the late evening, firecrackers set off by Palestinians at the mosque plaza touched off a blaze, police said.

Earlier in the day, Palestinians hurled rocks, other heavy objects and firecrackers from the hilltop site, which is Islam’s third-holiest and the location of Judaism’s biblical temple. Israeli police stormed the mount, firing stun grenades and rubber bullets. The Associated Press reported that more than 300 Palestinians, 21 Israeli police officers and seven Israeli civilians were wounded.

The shrine, known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims as Haram-as-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, is the most contested piece of land in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and has been a frequent site of violence. It’s located in east Jerusalem, the sector of the city that Palestinians seek as the capital of a future state, over Israel’s objections.

The Palestinians and most of the international community consider east Jerusalem, which Israel annexed after capturing it in the 1967 Middle East war, to be occupied territory.

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