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| Gaza conflict: Militant rocket targets Jerusalem | Gaza conflict: Militant rocket targets Jerusalem |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip have launched a rocket on Jerusalem - the first time the holy city has been targeted from Gaza. | |
| Israel Army radio said the missile landed just outside the city - and there are no reported casualties. An earlier missile targeted Tel Aviv. | Israel Army radio said the missile landed just outside the city - and there are no reported casualties. An earlier missile targeted Tel Aviv. |
| It comes amid mounting violence, following Israel's killing of Hamas's military chief on Wednesday. | It comes amid mounting violence, following Israel's killing of Hamas's military chief on Wednesday. |
| Egypt's leader has vowed to back Gaza in the face of "blatant aggression". | Egypt's leader has vowed to back Gaza in the face of "blatant aggression". |
| Twenty Palestinians and three Israelis have been killed since Wednesday. | |
| Militants and civilians, including at least five children, were among the Palestinian dead, Palestinian officials said. | |
| While considerable attention has focused on the long-range Palestinian rocket attacks against Tel Aviv - Israel's largest population centre - this latest strike against Jerusalem once again raises the question of "red lines". | While considerable attention has focused on the long-range Palestinian rocket attacks against Tel Aviv - Israel's largest population centre - this latest strike against Jerusalem once again raises the question of "red lines". |
| If these attacks persist - and especially if they cause casualties - could this be the development that sparks an Israeli ground incursion into the Gaza Strip? Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are roughly similar distances from Gaza suggesting that it is Iranian-made Fajr-5 missiles that are being fired at the two cities. | If these attacks persist - and especially if they cause casualties - could this be the development that sparks an Israeli ground incursion into the Gaza Strip? Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are roughly similar distances from Gaza suggesting that it is Iranian-made Fajr-5 missiles that are being fired at the two cities. |
| Israeli commanders had confidently asserted after the first day of air strikes that they had destroyed the bulk of these longer-range missiles. There does not seem to be a huge appetite at the political level in Israel for a ground operation. But the preparations are in place. With the civilian casualty toll in Gaza rising, a resolution to this crisis seems as far away as ever. | Israeli commanders had confidently asserted after the first day of air strikes that they had destroyed the bulk of these longer-range missiles. There does not seem to be a huge appetite at the political level in Israel for a ground operation. But the preparations are in place. With the civilian casualty toll in Gaza rising, a resolution to this crisis seems as far away as ever. |
| They include Hamas's military leader Ahmed Jabari, killed by an Israeli air strike on Wednesday. | They include Hamas's military leader Ahmed Jabari, killed by an Israeli air strike on Wednesday. |
| Two Israeli women and a man died when a rocket fired from Gaza hit a building in the southern town of Kiryat Malachi on Thursday, Israeli officials said. | Two Israeli women and a man died when a rocket fired from Gaza hit a building in the southern town of Kiryat Malachi on Thursday, Israeli officials said. |
| Before the recent upsurge, Israel had repeatedly carried out air strikes on Gaza, as Palestinian militants fired rockets across the border. | Before the recent upsurge, Israel had repeatedly carried out air strikes on Gaza, as Palestinian militants fired rockets across the border. |
| It is not clear if the rocket targeting Jerusalem was the same Iranian-built Fajr-5 launched towards Tel Aviv for the second day on Friday. | It is not clear if the rocket targeting Jerusalem was the same Iranian-built Fajr-5 launched towards Tel Aviv for the second day on Friday. |
| The rockets have an estimated range of 75km (45 miles). | The rockets have an estimated range of 75km (45 miles). |
| Israel's Haaretz newspaper said the rocket landed in Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem. | |
| Israel Radio said checks were being carried out by police to see if a second rocket fell in the Jerusalem area. | |
| The missile targeting Tel Aviv appears to have done no harm, with police officials quoted variously as saying it had landed in the sea or in an unpopulated area. | |
| It is the first time Tel Aviv has come under attack since the 1991 Gulf War. | |
| Analysts say it is the first time Gaza militants have deployed such powerful missiles. | |
| An Israeli military spokesman said 550 missiles had been fired into Israel since Wednesday - 184 had been intercepted by its radar-protective system, Iron Dome. | |
| The Israelis had hit more than 600 targets in Gaza, the spokesman said. | |
| More than 130 locations were hit overnight into Friday, in what Israel said was an assault was aimed at knocking out rocket-firing facilities. | |
| The Israeli army began an initial draft of 16,000 reservists on Friday, after the government authorised the call-up of 30,000. | |
| Rumours have been swirling that a ground attack is imminent, but Israeli officials have said no decision has yet been made. | |
| Mursi's backing | |
| Western leaders have appealed for both sides to stop the escalation in violence. | |
| Britain and Germany both said Hamas bears the brunt of the blame and should stop firing rockets immediately. | |
| But Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi sent Prime Minister Hisham Qandil to the territory for a three-hour visit on Friday to show solidarity with the Palestinians. | |
| "Egypt will not leave Gaza on its own, and what is happening is a blatant aggression against humanity," the president said shortly after Mr Qandil returned from Gaza. | |
| Ties between Hamas and Egypt have strengthened since Mr Mursi's election earlier this year. | |
| Hamas was formed as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, to which Mr Mursi belongs. | |
| CLICKABLE | CLICKABLE |
| Ashdod | Ashdod |
| Kiryat Malachi | Kiryat Malachi |
| Beit Hanoun | Beit Hanoun |
| Gaza City | Gaza City |
Ashdod, IsraelAn Israeli woman looks out from her apartment in a building damaged by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip in the southern city of Ashdod.Kiryat Malachi, IsraelAn Israeli man looks out from an apartment building in Kiryat Malachi, Israel which officials say was hit by a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip.Beit Hanoun, GazaA Palestinian woman inspects the damage to a house, left, and a mosque, right, after an Israeli airstrike in Beit Hanoun, north Gaza.Gaza CityPalestinians survey the damage done to Gaza's ministry of interior building following an Israeli air strike. | Ashdod, IsraelAn Israeli woman looks out from her apartment in a building damaged by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip in the southern city of Ashdod.Kiryat Malachi, IsraelAn Israeli man looks out from an apartment building in Kiryat Malachi, Israel which officials say was hit by a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip.Beit Hanoun, GazaA Palestinian woman inspects the damage to a house, left, and a mosque, right, after an Israeli airstrike in Beit Hanoun, north Gaza.Gaza CityPalestinians survey the damage done to Gaza's ministry of interior building following an Israeli air strike. |
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