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Rocket barrage from Lebanon into northern Israel escalates tensions after Temple Mount clash
(JTA) — Dozens of rockets fired from Lebanon hit Israel’s north in a significant escalation of tensions that followed clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian worshipers at a Jerusalem holy site.
Israel’s government-run Kan broadcaster said at least 30 rockets had crossed into Israel on Thursday, the first full day of the Passover holiday. All but five were taken out by Israel’s antimissile Iron Dome system. Three people were lightly injured, Kan reported.
Violence on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount days earlier had already led to clashes between police and Israeli Arabs, and to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to convene his security cabinet to consider the escalation.
No group claimed responsibility for the rocket fire, the worst since a war in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group that calls for violence against Israel and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.
Hezbollah said earlier it stood in solidarity with Palestinians after clashes Tuesday night on the Temple Mount, the Jerusalem site that is the holiest in Judaism and which houses a mosque complex that is the third holiest in Islam.
But Kan quoted Lebanese media as saying that Palestinian groups in southern Lebanon, and not Hezbollah, were responsible for the rocket fire.
Police entered al-Aqsa mosque on Tuesday night to remove Ramadan worshipers who sought to occupy the mosque overnight because of reports that Jewish extremists hoped to sacrifice an animal on the Temple Mount to mark Passover. Under an arrangement in place since shortly after Israel captured the Temple Mount in the 1967 Six-Day War, Jewish worship on the site is limited to silent prayer.
Some of the Muslim worshipers set off fireworks, and phone cameras caught police beating the protesters in images that were widely shared on social media. The Temple Mount confrontation led to rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and to clashes between police and residents of Israeli Arab towns. No major injuries were reported.
The coinciding of Ramadan and Passover has in the past led to clashes.
The new government led by Netanyahu is the most right wing in Israel’s history and includes ministers who have said they want to facilitate more visible Jewish worship on the Temple Mount.
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The post Rocket barrage from Lebanon into northern Israel escalates tensions after Temple Mount clash appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Exclusive: Israeli Officials Harshly Critical of Steve Witkoff’s Influence on US Policy on Gaza, Iran, i24NEWS Told
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
i24 News – Amid growing disagreements with the Trump administration over the composition of the Board of Peace for Gaza and the question of a strike on Iran, officials in Israel point to a key figure behind decisions seen as running counter to Israeli interests: Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.
The officials mention sustained dissatisfaction with Witkoff. Sources close to the PM Netanyahu told i24NEWS on Saturday evening: “For several months now, the feeling has been that envoy Steve Witkoff has strong ties, for his own reasons, across the Middle East, and that at times the Israeli interest does not truly prevail in his decision-making.”
This criticism relates both to the proposed inclusion of Turkey and Qatar in Gaza’s governing bodies and to the Iranian threat. A senior Israeli official put it bluntly: “If it turns out that he is among those blocking a strike on Iran, that is far more than a coincidence.”
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EU Warns of Downward Spiral After Trump Threatens Tariffs Over Greenland
European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on June 17, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Yves Herman
European Union leaders on Saturday warned of a “dangerous downward spiral” over US President Donald Trump‘s vow to implement increasing tariffs on European allies until the US is allowed to buy Greenland.
“Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral. Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to upholding its sovereignty,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Antonio Costa said in posts on X.
The bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said tariffs would hurt prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic, while distracting the EU from its “core task” of ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“China and Russia must be having a field day. They are the ones who benefit from divisions among allies,” Kallas said on X.
“Tariffs risk making Europe and the United States poorer and undermine our shared prosperity. If Greenland’s security is at risk, we can address this inside NATO.”
Ambassadors from the European Union’s 27 countries will convene on Sunday for an emergency meeting to discuss their response to the tariff threat.
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Israel Says US Gaza Executive Board Composition Against Its Policy
FILE PHOTO: Displaced Palestinians shelter at a tent camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 14, 2026. REUTERS/Haseeb Alwazeer/File Photo
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday that this week’s Trump administration announcement on the composition of a Gaza executive board was not coordinated with Israel and ran counter to government policy.
It said Foreign Minister Gideon Saar would raise the issue with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The statement did not specify what part of the board’s composition contradicted Israeli policy. An Israeli government spokesperson declined to comment.
The board, unveiled by the White House on Friday, includes Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. Israel has repeatedly opposed any Turkish role in Gaza.
Other members of the executive board include Sigrid Kaag, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process; an Israeli‑Cypriot billionaire; and a minister from the United Arab Emirates, which established relations with Israel in 2020.
Washington this week also announced the start of the second phase of President Donald Trump’s plan, announced in September, to end the war in Gaza. This includes creating a transitional technocratic Palestinian administration in the enclave.
The first members of the so-called Board of Peace – to be chaired by Trump and tasked with supervising Gaza’s temporary governance – were also named. Members include Rubio, billionaire developer Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.