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Palestinian militants fired rocket-propelled grenades into Israel from Gaza on the second day of Tuesday and Israeli warplanes hit a battlefield that killed at least 26 people in Gaza and two in Israel.
The outbreak of hostilities between Islamist Islamist-held Haza Islamist groups since 2019 was sparked by clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police at the Al Asqa Mosque in Jerusalem on Monday.
The holy city was in full swing during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, with periodic unrest and the expulsion of Palestinians from homes wanted by Jewish residents in a court case that sparked controversy.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will intensify its strikes in Gaza despite the escalation of rocket attacks.
"As the status quo was being finalized, it was decided to increase the intensity of the attack and the frequency of these attacks," he said in a video statement.
The Gaza Department of Health said at least 26 Palestinians, including nine children, had been killed and 122 injured in Israeli air strikes in an area of 2 million since Hamas fired rockets into Jerusalem on Monday for the first time since 2014.
Israeli paramedics say two women were killed in rocket strikes in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon.
In the town of Beit Hanooun in northern Gaza, Abdel-Hamid Hamad said his nephew Hussein, 11, was killed on Monday in what residents said was an Israeli air strike. He told Reuters that the boy was collecting firewood when he was beaten.
"Gaza has had enough, and there is no difference now. Our children are being killed. What should we do?" Said Hamad.
At Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, an Israeli woman was treated for injuries after her house was hit by a Palestinian rocket remembering the times of panic.
A police officer collapsed and one of her children at night and the door of the toilet fell on her husband's head, the woman told Channel 13 TV, who did not want to be named.
SCHOOL ATTACK
Israel has disputed the casualties in Gaza in the region, saying it had killed at least 15 Hamas soldiers and that one-third of the rockets fired by the remaining soldiers had left Palestinian civilians injured.
Elsewhere in Gaza, an Israeli arrow exploded inside an apartment building, killing three members of the Islamic Jihad, a military official said.
Police say more than 30 people have been injured by rocket strikes in southern Israel, although the military has said air raids are blocking about 90 percent of the cross-border operation.
Hamas said in a single minute of five minutes alone, it fired 137 shots at Ashkelon and Ashdod, both lying south of Tel Aviv, where several homes were on fire.
A school in Ashkelon was hit by a rocket. Classes had been canceled in the area and the building was empty.
Israeli tanks are gathering at the border in Gaza as officials say infants are being sent to strengthen children.
The Arab League, some of its members who warmed up relations with Israel last year, blamed it on the "indiscriminate and reckless" attack on Gaza and said it was responsible for "dangerous growth" in Jerusalem.
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said attacks on Gaza rockets aimed at Israel should stop immediately. He called on all parties to take steps to reduce the conflict.
Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations are trying to stop the violence, a Palestinian official said
ARABIC PROTEST IN ISRAEL
Israel also saw widespread protests in support of Palestinians, some of whom were violent, among 21% of minority Arabs.
In the nationalist town of Lod, witnesses quoted by Israeli media say that one or two armed Jews shot at Arabs, killing one and injuring two. The victim's father told Walla that he was attacked while visiting the family.
Accounts could not be verified. Israeli police said they had arrested two suspects in the incident.
On Monday, more than 300 Palestinians were injured in an al-Asqa Mosque clash with Israeli police, which fired rubber bullets, stun bombs and tear gas, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said. Police said 21 people were injured.
Israel says that all of Jerusalem is its capital, which is an unusual position in the world. Palestinians want East Jerusalem - captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war - as the capital of a future independent state with no Israeli occupation.
They were outraged by the Israeli court — which ordered them to be evacuated there to open up to Jewish immigrants. The eviction trial was postponed to Sunday. Learn more
The outbreak of hostilities has prompted Netanyahu's political opponents to suspend negotiations to form a coalition of right-wing, left-wing and left-wing parties to oust him after the March 23 by-elections.
Opposition leader Jair Lapid has three weeks to build his government. A long-term fight could undermine Lapid's power, with new elections - and another chance for Netanyahu to retain power - possibly if he fails.
Hamas named its rocket "Sword of Jerusalem", seeking to identify itself as a Palestinian defender in the city.
Such a move undermines the claims of its main Palestinian rival, President Mahmoud Abbas, to represent all Palestinians. Abbas's loyalty took over earlier this year when he began calling, and he canceled Palestinian elections.
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