Israeli military: three rockets fired from Syria toward Israel

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military said Saturday that three rockets were launched from Syria toward Israeli territory, a rare attack from the country's northeastern neighbour that comes after days of escalating violence on multiple fronts.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket launches, which caused no damage or casualties. Only one rocket managed to cross into Israeli territory and landed in a field in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

Also on Saturday, Israeli security forces shot and killed a 20-year-old Palestinian in the northern occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials said.

The Israeli military said it opened fire at Palestinians hurling stones and explosive devices at troops. The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the Palestinian killed in the West Bank town of Azzun as Ayed Salim.

The unusual rocket fire from Syria comes against the backdrop of soaring Israeli-Palestinian tensions touched off by an Israeli police raid on Jerusalem's most sensitive site, the sacred compound home to the Al-Aqsa mosque.

That outraged Palestinians marking the holy fasting month of Ramadan and prompted militants in Lebanon — as well as Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip — to fire a heavy barrage of rockets into Israel. In retaliation, Israeli warplanes struck sites allegedly linked to the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza and southern Lebanon.

Late Saturday, a few hundred Palestinian worshippers barricaded themselves in the mosque — which sits on a hilltop in the heart of Jerusalem's Old City sacred to both Muslims and Jews. Israeli police efforts to evict the worshippers locked in the mosque overnight with stockpiled firecrackers and stones spiraled into unrest in the holy site earlier this week.

Capping the latest violence, a shooting Friday in the occupied West Bank and an alleged car-ramming in Tel Aviv killed two British-Israelis and an Italian tourist.

The escalation prompted Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to extend a closure barring entrance to Israel for Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip for the duration of the Jewish holiday of Passover, while police beefed up forces in Jerusalem on the eve of sensitive religious celebrations.

The moves come at a time of heightened religious fervour – with Ramadan coinciding with Passover and Easter celebrations. Jerusalem's Old City, home to key Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites, has been teeming with visitors and religious pilgrims from around the world.

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