Palestinian Militants Fire Rockets Into Israel on Passover

Palestinian militants reportedly launched rockets into southern Israel for the second consecutive day on Thursday, according to the Israeli military. This attack followed the previous day’s episode when a police raid at a Jerusalem holy site resulted in an exchange of fire across the border, stoking fears of further escalation.

The rocket attack from the blockaded Gaza Strip, controlled by radical Islamist group Hamas, caused no casualties in the early morning. The previous day, the Israeli police raided the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, an area with a long-standing history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The incident happened during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the eve of the Jewish Passover, drawing condemnation from the Arab world and concern from the White House.

The Palestinian foreign ministry stated that the U.N. Security Council would hold a closed-door session on Thursday to discuss the raid. On the other hand, Israeli authorities argued that the police intervention attempted to prevent violence by clearing the area of groups barricaded with weapons, rocks, and firecrackers that were planning to breach the peace.

Officers beating worshippers inside Islam’s third holiest site circulated on social media, and the episode resulted in at least 12 Palestinians being injured. Militants in Gaza reportedly launched rockets into southern Israel in response, prompting Israeli air strikes.

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell; Editing by Robert Birsel)