20 Palestinians including 9 children killed as Israel strikes Gaza
Violent clashes over Jerusalem spiraled out of control on Monday with Gaza health officials confirming at least 20 people, including nine children, were killed by Israeli air strikes.
The rocket fire and Israeli air strikes continued late into the night, with Palestinians reporting the sounds of loud explosions close to Gaza City and across the coastal strip.
Meanwhile Israel’s military said Palestinian militants had fired around 150 rockets into Israel, of which dozens were intercepted by its missile defence systems.
Earlier Monday kicked off with early-morning confrontations at Al-Aqsa Mosque in the heart of Jerusalem’s walled Old City on the compound known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary – the most sensitive site in the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society reported that more than 300 Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli police, who fired rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas in the compound. Police said 21 officers were hurt in the skirmishes.
Although the trouble had faded away by mid-morning, there were other specific points of tension, including the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem just north of the Old City where several Palestinian families face eviction from homes claimed by Jewish settlers in a long-running legal case.
