By JODI RUDOREN
JERUSALEM — Seven rockets fired from the Gaza Strip landed in
southern Israel on Monday morning, prompting Israeli airstrikes that hit
at least one training site of Hamas, the militant Palestinian faction that
rules Gaza.
The exchange of fire between Palestinian militants and Israeli forces,
as Jews celebrated the last day of Passover, was the most significant clash
in more than a month. Combined with recent violence in the Old City of
Jerusalem and in the West Bank, the exchange increased tensions as
Washington was struggling to salvage peace talks before a deadline next
Tuesday.
Two Hamas security officers were slightly injured by one of the three
airstrikes in the early afternoon, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. No
injuries were reported in Israel. One rocket damaged a road in the Israeli
border town of Sderot, one of several communities where residents were
warned to be on alert as they went about their holiday barbecues, hikes
and prayers.
“On this day, the day of our holiday, our enemies fired rockets into our
communities,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday evening,
according to a message circulated by his press office. “Our policy is clear —
to respond immediately and with force. We harm whoever comes to harm us. That is how we have acted and how we will continue to act.”
No specific group claimed responsibility for the rocket fire on
Monday, which came in three waves, at about 8:30 a.m., 10:15 a.m. and
12:30 p.m., according to a statement from the Israeli military. An antitank
missile was also fired at Israeli troops patrolling the fence separating
southern Gaza from Israel around 7:15 a.m., the statement said, and an
explosive device was detonated near Israeli soldiers in the same area the
night before.
The exchange with Gaza followed days of clashes outside Al Aqsa
Mosque in Jerusalem that led to the arrests of 24 Palestinian men. Micky
Rosenfeld, a spokesman for the Israeli police, said 16 of the Palestinians
were suspected of throwing “rocks and boulders” at police officers on
Sunday morning, when Jews made holiday pilgrimages to the site they call
the Temple Mount and that Muslims revere as the Noble Sanctuary. The
eight others were charged with throwing stones and firecrackers during a
similar clash on Friday, Mr. Rosenfeld said.
Jordan, which shares control of Al Aqsa with the Palestinians, lodged
a complaint with Israel on Monday, summoning Israel’s ambassador in
Amman to the Foreign Ministry. The Jordanian state news agency
reported that officials said the actions by the Israeli police and Jewish
visitors had violated international law and the peace treaty between the
two nations, and were damaging to their relations.
At the beginning of the Passover holiday last week, an Israeli police
commander was fatally shot as he and his family drove to a Seder in a
West Bank settlement. The day after his funeral, Israeli and Palestinian
negotiators met for several hours trying to reach an agreement to extend
American-brokered peace negotiations past the April 29 deadline. The
negotiators are expected to reconvene this week, amid renewed threats by
Palestinian leaders that they might dissolve the Palestinian Authority,
forcing Israel to take responsibility for its residents.
Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for the State Department, warned Monday
against “that type of extreme step.” Noting that the United States had contributed “millions of dollars” to help build Palestinian institutions, she said a dissolution of the authority “would obviously have very serious implications for our relationship, including our assistance going forward.
