Jerusalem crisis: Pleas for calm as violence escalates

[sarahazhari]

Jerusalem crisis: Pleas for calm as violence escalates
The US, the European Union and the UK have urged Israel and the Palestinians to lower tensions as soon as possible.The violence escalated on Monday night after Palestinian militants fired rockets toward Jerusalem.In response, the Israeli military launched air strikes against militant targets in the Gaza Strip.Palestinian health officials in Gaza said 20 people, including children, had died in the strikes. Israel's military said at least three members of the Hamas group that rules Gaza were among those killed.Hamas had threatened to strike after hundreds of Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli police at a holy site in Jerusalem on Monday.
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The hilltop compound containing the al-Aqsa mosque and buttressed by the Jewish holy site of the Western Wall is especially sensitive, with both Israel and Palestinians wary of each other's intentions and activities there.Israel says the current violence there was planned "well in advance" by Palestinian extremists, though a series of events has driven unrest in Jerusalem.On Monday, a planned march by Israeli nationalists which was due to pass through Muslim areas of East Jerusalem's Old City was called off over fears it could stoke unrest.The Jerusalem Day event marks Israel's capture of East Jerusalem in 1967.It is regarded by many Palestinians as a deliberate provocation. This year's march would also have taken place in the final days of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.