GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Gaza Strip is witnessing the worst escalation of violence since the 2014 war as Israeli warplanes continue to conduct airstrikes across the enclave. The escalation came after Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, launched at exactly 6 p.m. May 10 a rocket attack toward Jerusalem. In a brief statement distributed to the press May 10, brigades' spokesman Abu Obeida said the rocket attack came in response to the “Israeli army’s crimes and aggression on the holy city and its violations against Sheikh Jarrah and Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

In an earlier statement the same day, the brigades had warned Israel against escalation, saying it had until 6 p.m. to withdraw its forces from Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem, as well as releasing all prisoners.

Also May 10, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, Al-Quds Brigades, fired an anti-tank missile (Kornet) at an Israeli military vehicle at the Gaza border.

As Palestinian resistance factions seemed to have kept their promises to respond to the Israeli actions in Jerusalem, the Israeli army responded with the biggest escalation round the Gaza Strip has witnessed in years. On May 11, the chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, said the military targeted more than 500 sites in the Gaza Strip, including weapons production sites.