Article author:
Reuters
Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Dan Williams
Gaza/Jerusalem — Sirens blared and explosions were heard in the western suburbs of Jerusalem on Sunday, signaling long-range Palestinian rocket attacks. Israel conducts airstrikes in the Gaza Strip.
About 30 Palestinians, of whom at least a third of him are civilians, two of whom are senior commanders of the Islamic Jihad Group, have been killed in a spike in fighting over the weekend. Killed, rocket fire sent tens of thousands of Israelis to shelters.
The resurgence unsettled world powers and prompted Egypt to mediate a ceasefire. It has been partially contained by the fact that Hamas, the Islamist group that governs the impoverished and blockaded Gaza Strip, has opened fire.
But on Sunday, Jews commemorating two ancient temples visited the main Jerusalem mosque, which is worshiped as a vestige of those temples, raising another potential A fire was approaching. Palestinians view such visits as a religious and political insult.
Israel launched an offensive on Gaza on Friday in what it describes as a preemptive Islamic Jihad offensive intended to retaliate for the arrest of a group leader in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli Justice Minister Gideon Saar said hundreds of rockets fired in response to Islamic Jihad continued to operate.
Asked on his radio if the end of the Israeli army was near, he said: As long as Islamic Jihad wants to prolong this operation, it will regret it." There were no direct reports of casualties on the outskirts of Jerusalem, which Islamic Jihad said it targeted with rocket attacks in retaliation for the killing of
"The blood of martyrs is not wasted, and holy warriors do not dry this blood before bombarding enemy settlements with rockets," says Hamas, as does Israel. Islamic Jihad said in a statement. (Written by Dan Williams, edited by Robert Barthel)
