On Sunday, as Israel continued its airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, sirens wailed and explosions could be heard on the western fringes of Jerusalem, warning of longer-range Palestinian rocket attacks towards Israel.
In the weekend uptick in combat, over 30 Palestinians were murdered, at least a third of them civilians, and two of them were prominent commanders of the Islamic Jihad militant group, while rocket salvos forced tens of thousands of Israelis into bunkers.
World powers are concerned about the flare-up, which has forced Egypt to mediate a truce. The fact that Hamas, the ruling Islamist organisation in the impoverished and blockaded Gaza Strip, has held fire has helped to keep it under control.
The visit of Jews remembering two ancient temples to a significant Jerusalem mosque complex, which they regard as a remnant of those shrines, on Sunday, however, raised the possibility of another flashpoint.
Such visits are seen as a political and religious assault by Palestinians.
Israel began its attacks on Gaza on Friday in an effort to prevent what it characterised as an attempt by Islamic Jihad intended to exact revenge for the capture of a senior member in the occupied West Bank.
According to Israeli Justice Minister Gideon Saar, a member of the security council that makes decisions, the operation is still going on because of the hundreds of rockets that Islamic Jihad has shot in retaliation.
He responded, ‘ I hope so, but I don’t want to build excessive hopes on it,’ when asked on Israel’s Army Radio if the war might be nearing its conclusion. Islamic Jihad will regret extending this operation to the level that it does.
There was no early word on injuries in the vicinity of Jerusalem, which Islamic Jihad claimed it had attacked with rockets in punishment for Israel murdering five civilians, two other terrorists, and the chief of its southern Gaza branch on Saturday.
‘The holy warriors will not let this blood dry before they bombard the enemy’s settlements with their rockets,’ they vowed. ‘The blood of martyrs will not be wasted.’ in a statement, Islamic Jihad, which like Hamas rejects Israel, claimed.
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