Israel’s military said said six rockets were launched from Syria in two separate batches and three had been intercepted.
Israel’s military said said six rockets were launched from Syria in two separate batches and three had been intercepted.
The site has been at the center of violent scenes in recent days as Muslim worshippers attempting to stay overnight in the mosque were forcibly removed by Israeli police, who beat worshippers — including women and children — using batons, chairs and rifles and fired stun guns at youths who hurled firecrackers back.
Israeli authorities typically only permit Palestinian worshippers to stay overnight in the mosque during the final 10 days of Ramadan, and regularly enter to evict attendees staying overnight outside of this period.
Sitting on a hilltop sacred to both Jews and Muslims, the spot, known to Jews as Temple Mount, is the holiest site in Judaism, revered as the location of biblical Jewish temples. It is also the third-holiest site in Islam.
Conflicting claims over the area have frequently spilled out into violence before, most recently in an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas in 2021 in which both sides claimed victory.
Militant groups in Lebanon and Gaza responded to raids on the al-Aqsa mosque with rocket fire last week and Israel launched a wave of airstrikes on Lebanon and Gaza early Friday after dozens of rockets struck the north of the country the day before.
No group claimed responsibility for the rocket fire from Lebanon, although Israel blamed Hamas, and said that it was investigating the involvement of Hezbollah, a Shiite Islamist political party and militant group in Lebanon that also has links to Iran.
Elsewhere on Sunday, a large funeral service was held Sunday for Aaed Azzam Salim 20 who was shot dead during clashes in the town of Azzun in the West Bank.
His death Saturday, came less than 24 hours after an Italian tourist was killed in Tel Aviv in a car-ramming attack and two British-Israeli sisters were shot dead and their mother seriously injured in an attack in the West Bank on Friday.