OCCUPIED
AL-QUDS: Palestinian militants in Gaza and Israeli warplanes exchanged fire early on Thursday in the biggest escalation in months, followed by fresh violence at al-Quds flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque.
Israel carried out air strikes in central Gaza after midnight, hours after a rocket fired by militants hit the garden of a house in southern Israel — the first such fire to hit the Jewish state since January.
The military said it had hit an underground rocket factory, prompting another volley of at least four more rockets from the impoverished territory run by Islamist movement Hamas.
The exchanges come after nearly a month of deadly violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories, focused on al-Quds super-sensitive Al-Aqsa mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.
Israeli police fired tear gas and multiple stun grenades inside the compound in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem again on Thursday, AFP journalists reported. The Palestinian Red Crescent said its medics were treating a person who was hit in the face with a rubber-coated steel bullet inside the Al-Aqsa.
Israeli police said dozens of “rioters” had thrown stones and petrol bombs from the mosque. “A violent splinter group is stopping Muslim worshippers from entering the mosque and causing damage to the site,” the police alleged, adding that the wounded were refusing to be treated by Israelis.
Seven Palestinians, all residents of east Jerusalem, were arrested in connection with “violent incidents” on Wednesday. More than four weeks of deadly violence have sparked international concerns of a major escalation, a year after a similar set of circumstances degenerated into an 11-day war.
Senior Palestinian official Hussein al-Sheikh said that US acting Assistant Secretary of State Yael Lempert and senior diplomat Hady Amr would be arriving in the Palestinian territories to discuss the escalation, specifically at the Al-Aqsa.
Tensions have been particularly high as the Jewish Passover festival coincides with the Muslim holy month of Ramazan. Palestinians and Israeli Arabs carried out four deadly attacks in Israel in late March and early April that claimed 14 lives, mostly civilians.
