Seven rockets were fired at Jerusalem and more rockets at other communities in Israel this evening, right after the ultimatum issued by Hamas expired. The Gaza-ruling group had warned earlier in the day that Israel must withdraw its security forces from the Temple Mount compound and from the east Jerusalem Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, or else it would retaliate. Both locations, together with the Old City’s Damascus Gate, have become in recent days flashpoints for violence and confrontation.
Sirens warning over rocket fire sounded this evening in Jerusalem and its environs; in the town of Beit Shemesh, not far from Jerusalem; in the southern towns of Ashkelon, Ashdod and Sderot; and in the villages near the border with Gaza. Knesset members were evacuated from the parliament’s plenum when sirens sounded in Jerusalem. Some air traffic was rerouted. One house in the village of Bein Nekufa near Jerusalem was damaged, but so far there are no reports of injuries. Authorities have ordered schools within a radius of 40 kilometers from the Israel-Gaza border to shut down tomorrow, and several roads in the region near the border with Gaza are now blocked for traffic.
The rocket fire from Gaza comes as tension in Jerusalem reaches heights. This morning, police clashed with thousands of Palestinian worshipers who had gathered at the Temple Mount compound during the night. When entering the compound, worshipers attacked the police with rocks, bottles and other makeshift weapons. News sites reported on Palestinian residents at Sheikh Jarrah and near the Damascus Gate celebrating the rockets on Jerusalem.
This morning, police said it would maintain the original route approved for the Jerusalem dance-flag march organized by Jewish religious nationalists every year. The march celebrates Jerusalem Day, which marks the unification of the city after the 1967 Six-Day War. Palestinians perceive this annual march as a provocation, as thousands of marchers stride through the Muslim quarter in the Old City with Israeli flags and songs, onto the Western Wall plaza.
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