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Children in Kibbutz Nahal Oz in front of the tracks of a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip.
Photo: JACK GUEZ / AFP
The situation in the Gaza Strip is coming to a head: Israeli warplanes attacked Hamas targets on Saturday.
The Israeli military had previously reported a fire with 36 rockets from the Gaza Strip.
The escalation followed violent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police in east Jerusalem on Friday.
Clashes had already broken out in Jerusalem on Thursday.
Subsequently, the armed wing of Hamas agreed to support the Palestinians in East Jerusalem.
According to the Israeli military, the 36 missile bombardment was the most violent since the beginning of the year.
Some of the projectiles had been intercepted by the "Iron Dome" missile defense system, and others had struck in the open.
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Riots in Jerusalem
According to media reports, the clashes began after an event by right-wing Israelis.
Among other things, you are said to have shouted anti-Palestinian slogans.
According to the police, around 20 officers were injured.
The violence in East Jerusalem broke out when thousands of Muslims left the grounds of the Al-Aqsa mosque after the evening prayers after sunset.
They faced dozens of armed police officers, and mounted police were also on duty.
Some Palestinians threw water bottles and stones at Israeli officials.
The police used stun grenades and water cannons.
There were several arrests and injuries.
"It was like being in a war zone, it was dangerous," a Palestinian who had observed the clashes up close told the AFP news agency.
Thousands of Palestinians also gathered at the Kalandija border crossing between Jerusalem and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to the Israeli police.
In Bethlehem in the West Bank, Palestinians reportedly threw stones and incendiary devices at the grave of the biblical matriarch Rachel, which is a place of pilgrimage for both Jews and Muslims.
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Right-wing Jews against Arabs, Arabs against ultra-Orthodox Jews
In the past few days, tensions between Muslim Palestinians and Jewish Israelis had been fueled by a series of videos. They showed how young Arabs attack ultra-Orthodox Jews and how Jewish extremists harass Arabs on the street at night. On Thursday evening, the right-wing extremist Jewish Lehava organization organized a march in Jerusalem. According to the Palestinian aid organization Red Crescent, at least 105 people were injured in clashes between Levaha supporters and angry Palestinians on Thursday. According to the authorities, there were also 20 injured police officers. It was the worst clash between Israelis and Palestinians in years.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned "the increasing incitement by extremist right-wing Israeli settler groups who advocate the killing of Arabs."
According to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, he called on the international community to work to protect the Palestinians.
The US State Department in Washington was "deeply concerned" at the recent outbreak of violence and called for calm.
"The rhetoric of extremist demonstrators who chant hateful and violent slogans must be firmly rejected," the ministry spokesman, Ned Price, wrote on Twitter.
In its travel advice, the Foreign Office in Berlin points out that during the fasting month of Ramadan, the situation in the old city of Jerusalem and its immediate vicinity is particularly tense.
sem / AFP / dpa