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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Tim Hanlon

Israel airstrikes hit Palestine after rocket launched from Gaza as tensions soar

Israel has launched airstrikes on Palestine targets in retaliation to a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip after tensions boiled over with clashes at a Jerusalem shrine.

The rocket, which the Israeli military said they had shot down, was the first attack of its kind in months.

No Gaza faction claimed responsibility for the launch, which followed warnings by the dominant Hamas Islamists of reprisals for Israeli conduct around Jerusalem's Al Aqsa mosque compound.

Within hours, Israeli air strikes hit camps used by Hamas and another Gaza faction, Palestinian sources said. The military said one target was an arms manufacturing site and no one was hurt.

Since Friday, Al Aqsa - also revered by Jews as a vestige of two ancient temples - has seen confrontations between Palestinian stone-throwers and Israeli riot police recalling violence that helped fan a Gaza war one year ago.

The Israeli airstrikes followed a rocket being launched from the Gaza Strip (REUTERS)

Palestinians accuse Israel of encroaching at Al Aqsa during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Israel says Palestinian protesters seek to disrupt Muslim prayer for political ends and to prevent visits by Jews, who are now celebrating Passover.

The tensions complicate Israel's security ties with Jordan, which is custodian of Al Aqsa and has a Palestinian majority.

Jordan's King Abdullah told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that Israel's Al Aqsa policy "seriously undermines" chances of it making peace with the Palestinians, Amman said.

Jordan also summoned Israel's acting ambassador for a reprimand.

Escalating the rhetoric, Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher al-Khasawneh told parliament: "I must laud ... those throwing their stones at all of those Zionists who desecrate Al Aqsa mosque with the protection of the Israeli occupation government."

There have been clashes at the Al-Aqsa Mosque between Palestinian protestors and Israeli security forces (REUTERS)

Several passengers were injured when Israeli buses they were traveling on to Jerusalem's Old City were stoned by Palestinians on Sunday, police said, adding that Al Aqsa protesters have been stockpiling rocks for attacks on Jewish visitors and police.

At least 152 Palestinians and eight police were injured around Al Aqsa during Friday's confrontations, medics said.

"I view with gravity the statements blaming Israel for the violence that we are being subjected to. Some are encouraging stone-throwing," Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in video statement issued after al-Khasawneh's televised remarks.

"This serves as a prize for the inciters, chief most Hamas, who are trying to ignite violence here in Jerusalem," he said.

In Washington, the State Department said US officials engaged in phone calls with Israelis, Palestinians and Arab representatives over the weekend in an effort to prevent an escalation of the Jerusalem tensions.

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