Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Rocket Fired at Israel From Gaza as Mideast Tensions Mount
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 2 years ago on
April 20, 2022

Share

 

A rocket was fired into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip late Wednesday, the Israeli military said, in the second such attack this week as Israeli-Palestinian tensions have soared over violence in Jerusalem.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, and no one claimed the strike. Israel holds the Hamas militant group that rules Gaza responsible for all rocket fire and typically responds with airstrikes within hours.

Hamas had earlier issued vague threats over a planned march through Jerusalem by Israeli ultra-nationalists. But Israeli police blocked roads and prevented the marchers from reaching dense Palestinian neighborhoods in and around the Old City, after a similar event nearly a year ago helped trigger an Israel-Gaza war.

Police used parked trucks and barricades just outside the walls of the Old City to close the main road leading down to Damascus Gate, the epicenter of last year’s unrest. After some pushing and shoving with police, the marchers rallied near the barricades, waving flags, singing and chanting.

Israeli police deployed in large numbers around the historic Old City, home to major religious sites for Jews, Christians and Muslims, out of concern that confrontations could further inflame an already tense situation during the Jewish holiday of Passover and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Tensions have surged in recent weeks after a series of deadly attacks inside Israel, followed by military operations in the occupied West Bank. On Monday, Palestinian militants fired a rocket from the Gaza Strip into Israel for the first time in months, and Israel responded with airstrikes. That rocket was intercepted and there were no casualties from the exchange.

It came after repeated clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.

The hilltop shrine in Jerusalem’s Old City is the third holiest in Islam, while for Jews it is their holiest site, where two temples stood in antiquity. It is the emotional ground zero for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a flashpoint for previous rounds of violence.

Earlier on Wednesday, a small group of Palestinian protesters threw rocks at police while hundreds of Jewish visitors entered the flashpoint holy site.

Amateur video from the scene appeared to show police using sponge-tipped plastic projectiles intended to be non-lethal as the protesters barricaded themselves inside the mosque. Police said a firebomb thrown by one of the protesters set a carpet outside the mosque on fire, but it was quickly extinguished. No injuries were reported.

Hamas said Wednesday ahead of the march that Israel would bear “full responsibility for the repercussions” if it allowed the marchers “to approach our holy sites,” without elaborating.

Itamar Ben Gvir, an ultra-nationalist lawmaker who frequently stages provocative visits to Palestinian areas, attended the rally and was greeted with cheers. He is a disciple of a radical rabbi whose violently anti-Arab ideology was once shunned in Israel but is now having a revival.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement that he would bar Ben Gvir from going to Damascus Gate. “I don’t intend to allow petty politics to endanger human lives,” he said.

Last May, Palestinian militants in Gaza fired rockets toward Jerusalem as a much larger group of thousands of Israelis held a flag march to the Old City following weeks of protests and clashes in and around Al-Aqsa. Those events led to an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas.

Israeli nationalists stage such marches to try to assert sovereignty over east Jerusalem, which Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war, along with the West Bank and Gaza, and annexed in a move not recognized internationally. The Palestinians seek an independent state in all three territories and consider east Jerusalem their capital.

Organizer Noam Nisan defended the march in an interview with Kan public radio before it was held, saying: “A Jew with a flag in Jerusalem is not a provocation.”

He said the demonstration was a response to Palestinians pelting buses with stones just outside the Old City earlier this week. The attack happened near an entrance leading to the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, which is next to Al-Aqsa.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Crescent View West High Celebrates New Clovis Home

DON'T MISS

Fresno Man Sentenced to 29 Years for Sexually Assaulting Children and Dog

DON'T MISS

Bulldogs’ Two-Position Standout Tommy Hopfe Signs With Rockies

DON'T MISS

Artists, Vendors Plan to Defy City’s ArtHop Crackdown

DON'T MISS

Former Bulldog QB Jake Haener: I Have a ‘Rare Form of Skin Cancer’

DON'T MISS

The Many Names of GOP Vice Presidential Nominee JD Vance

DON'T MISS

‘Fed Up’ Dyer, Councilmembers Unveil Plan to Crack Down on Street Campers

DON'T MISS

House Republicans Slam Trump’s ‘Worst Choice’ for VP Pick JD Vance

DON'T MISS

Companies Cut Prices to Boost Sales, Consumers Respond

DON'T MISS

Stay Cool, Fresno!

UP NEXT

95 Libyan Nationals Arrested in South Africa at Suspected Secret Military Training Camp

UP NEXT

Arson Attacks Cause Travel Chaos Before Start of Olympics in Paris, Thwarting Athletes’ Travel

UP NEXT

Mexican Drug Kingpin Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada in US Custody

UP NEXT

Harris Tells Netanyahu ‘It Is Time’ to Get Hostage Deal Done and End Gaza War

UP NEXT

Biden and Netanyahu Meet With a Show of Amiable Relations Despite Tensions

UP NEXT

Palestinian Olympic Team Greeted With Cheers and Gifts in Paris

UP NEXT

Netanyahu: A Small Man in a Big Time?

UP NEXT

FACT FOCUS: A Look at Netanyahu’s Claims About Israel, Hamas and Iran During His Speech to Congress

UP NEXT

Netanyahu Defends War in Gaza and Denounces Protesters In Fiery Speech to Congress

UP NEXT

UN Cultural Agency Rejects Plan to Place Britain’s Stonehenge on List of Heritage Sites in Danger

Artists, Vendors Plan to Defy City’s ArtHop Crackdown

7 hours ago

Former Bulldog QB Jake Haener: I Have a ‘Rare Form of Skin Cancer’

8 hours ago

The Many Names of GOP Vice Presidential Nominee JD Vance

9 hours ago

‘Fed Up’ Dyer, Councilmembers Unveil Plan to Crack Down on Street Campers

9 hours ago

House Republicans Slam Trump’s ‘Worst Choice’ for VP Pick JD Vance

9 hours ago

Companies Cut Prices to Boost Sales, Consumers Respond

9 hours ago

Stay Cool, Fresno!

10 hours ago

Warner Bros. Discovery Sues NBA for Not Accepting Its Matching Offer

10 hours ago

Tanker Plane Crash Kills Firefighting Pilot in Oregon as Western Wildfires Spread

10 hours ago

Will Bonta Election Lawsuit Reverse the Will of Fresno County Voters?

10 hours ago

Crescent View West High Celebrates New Clovis Home

The arch of colorful balloons over the doorway of a storefront on Shaw Avenue in Clovis was a clue that something exciting was happening on ...

6 hours ago

6 hours ago

Crescent View West High Celebrates New Clovis Home

7 hours ago

Fresno Man Sentenced to 29 Years for Sexually Assaulting Children and Dog

7 hours ago

Bulldogs’ Two-Position Standout Tommy Hopfe Signs With Rockies

7 hours ago

Artists, Vendors Plan to Defy City’s ArtHop Crackdown

8 hours ago

Former Bulldog QB Jake Haener: I Have a ‘Rare Form of Skin Cancer’

9 hours ago

The Many Names of GOP Vice Presidential Nominee JD Vance

9 hours ago

‘Fed Up’ Dyer, Councilmembers Unveil Plan to Crack Down on Street Campers

9 hours ago

House Republicans Slam Trump’s ‘Worst Choice’ for VP Pick JD Vance

MENU

CONNECT WITH US

Search

Send this to a friend