At least 30 people have died as Israel and Palestinian Islamist miliant group Hamas have exchanged heavy fire in the worst flare-up of tensions in years.
Of the 30 killed, two were on Israel’s side and 28, including 10 children on Palestine’s side. On Tuesday, Hamas said it has launched 130 rockets in retaliation for an airstrike that levelled a 13-storey building in Gaza.
Much of the recent unrest stems from the long-running legal effort by Jewish settler groups to evict several Palestinian families from their homes in the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

Smoke billows from an Israeli air strike on the Hanadi compound in Gaza City, controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement, on May 11, 2021. (Photo Credit: AFP)
Picture shows Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, on May 10, 2021. (Photo Credit: AFP)
Israel’s Iron Dome aerial defense system intercepts a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement, above the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, on May 11, 2021. (Photo Credit: AFP)
Palestinians evacuate a building targeted by Israeli bombardment in Gaza City on May 11, 2021. (Photo Credit: AFP)
Israel’s Iron Dome aerial defense system intercepts a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement, above the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, on May 11, 2021. (Photo Credit: AFP)
Rockets are fired from Gaza City, controlled by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, towards Israel on May 10, 2021. (Photo Credit: AFP)