Israel unleashed rare airstrikes on Lebanon and continued bombarding the Gaza Strip on Friday, an escalation that sparked fears of a broader conflict following days of violence over Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site.
Palestinians inspect damage from overnight Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City, Friday, April 7, 2023. The Israeli military has struck targets in the Gaza Strip, pushing the region toward a wider conflagration after a day of rocket fire along the country's northern and southern borders. The fighting follows two days of unrest at Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site.
The early morning Israeli strikes followed an unusually large rocket barrage fired at Israel from southern Lebanon — what analysts described as the most serious cross-border violence since Israel’s 2006 war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants. The violence erupted after Israeli police raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem earlier this week, sparking unrest in the contested capital and outrage across the Arab world.
A flock of sheep was also killed when the Israeli missiles struck an open field near the Palestinian refugee camp of Rashidiyeh, according to an Associated Press photographer. Other airstrikes hit a bridge and power transformer in the nearby town of Maaliya and damaged an irrigation system providing water to orchards in the area.
The Israeli military said it was searching for those behind the attack, setting up roadblocks in the area. No militant group immediately claimed responsibility. But Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem hailed the attack “in retaliation for the crimes committed by Israel in the West Bank and the Al-Aqsa mosque.”Jerusalem’s holy site of Al-Aqsa, a tinderbox for Israeli-Palestinian conflict, sits on a hilltop sacred to both Muslims and Jews.
The current round of violence began Wednesday after Israeli police twice raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque — in one case fiercely beating Palestinians, who responded by hurling rocks and firecrackers. That led Thursday to rocket fire from Gaza and, in a significant and unusual escalation, the barrage from southern Lebanon and the Israeli retaliation.
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