There was a loud rumbling and siren-like sounds around Jerusalem on Sunday, which indicated longer-range Palestinian rocket launches towards Israel while Israeli forces continued airstrikes in the Gaza Strip.
At least three missiles can be seen launching into the sky in video taken by the Associated Press. A report in Israeli media stated that two rockets had been shot down.
Over the course of the weekend, violence claimed the lives of some 30 Palestinians, the most of whom were civilians, as well as two top Islamic Jihad commanders.
Israel’s response to Gaza’s rockets prompted the evacuation of thousands of Israeli citizens.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on the outskirts of Jerusalem, although there were no early reports of deaths.
At least two Palestinian terrorist leaders have been murdered in Israel’s cross-border operations so far this year; one of the Israeli attacks killed one of their most senior commanders.
Late Saturday night, Khaled Mansour, the leader of the Islamic Jihad’s operations in southern Gaza, was slain. A day before, an Israeli airstrike in the north had killed the terrorists’ commander.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, 29 individuals, including six children and four women, have been killed in the conflict thus far. At least 253 individuals were injured, according to the report.
Israel’s airstrikes have killed at least 15 militants, according to Israeli estimates.
The escalation has alarmed major world powers, prompting Egypt to step in and mediate a ceasefire. Hamas, the governing Islamist group in the poor and imprisoned Gaza Strip, has restrained fire in order to contain it.
Even as Jews commemorated two ancient temples by visiting a prominent Jerusalem mosque compound, another possible showdown was on the horizon.
Palestinians see such trips as a violation of their religious and political beliefs.