Twenty Palestinians, nine of them children, were killed in Israeli bombing attacks in the Gaza Strip on May 10.
This came at the end of a day of violence that began in occupied East Jerusalem, where Israeli forces assaulted worshippers at the al-Aqsa mosque compound, injuring hundreds.
Scenes of brutality in Jerusalem generated outrage and solidarity among Palestinians and around the world.
The military wing of the Palestinian resistance organisation Hamas issued an ultimatum giving Israel an hour 鈥 until 6 pm local time 鈥 to withdraw its forces from al-Aqsa and the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, and free detainees.
When the deadline passed, resistance groups in Gaza fired volleys of rockets towards Jerusalem for the first time since the 2014 war, from some Palestinians.
Israelis who had been gathering for the so-called Jerusalem Day march ran for cover as sirens sounded.
No serious Israeli casualties were reported.
A Hamas spokesperson in Gaza said that resistance fighters 鈥渇ired rockets at occupied Jerusalem, in response to the enemy鈥檚 crimes and aggression against the holy city, and its abuse of our people in Sheikh Jarrah and al-Aqsa mosque.鈥
鈥淚srael will respond with great force,鈥 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , adding that 鈥渨hoever attacks us will pay a heavy price鈥.
Such warnings should be understood as threats of collective punishment against civilians in Gaza.
Israeli ministers an aerial offensive against the territory, with an Israeli military spokesperson that the assault 鈥渨ill take a few days鈥.
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza that 20 people in the besieged territory were killed in Israeli airstrikes.
Nine children were among those killed, Palestinian media reported.
Israel that three Hamas fighters were killed in one of its airstrikes and Hamas one of its commanders was killed.
Israel also closed Gaza鈥檚 sole commercial crossing and further restricted access to the Strip鈥檚 coastal waters.
Settler march cancelled
Before Hamas鈥 ultimatum, Israel had suffered a humiliating setback in its effort to assert control over occupied East Jerusalem.
May 10 was supposed to be the day thousands of extremist Jewish settlers marched through the Old City to mark so-called .
This annual parade is a grotesque display of and in which Israelis celebrate their 1967 occupation of the eastern part of Jerusalem.
This year鈥檚 march was slated to take place amid and resistance against Israel鈥檚 dozens of Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood as part of the ongoing ethnic cleansing and Judaisation of Jerusalem.
For much of the day, Israeli police that the settler march would proceed on its planned route through the Damascus Gate and into the narrow alleys of the Old City, including its Muslim Quarter.
By afternoon, however, and after recommendations from Israel鈥檚 military and the Shin Bet, the state鈥檚 domestic spying and torture agency, Netanyahu decided to reroute it before it was altogether.
It was a striking victory for Palestinians, though one that came at a high price in injuries from the indiscriminate Israeli violence.
Hundreds injured
Before dawn on May 10, thousands of Palestinians headed to the al-Aqsa mosque compound to pray at the site and protect it from expected incursions by Jewish extremists and the kinds of violent assault by occupation forces witnessed on and , when hundreds of Palestinians were injured.
Among the 90,000 Palestinians who gathered at al-Aqsa on May 8 to mark Laylat al-Qadr, one of the holiest nights of Ramadan, were thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel.
After Israeli police halted dozens of buses bringing worshippers to Jerusalem, many their journey to the city on foot.
As dawn broke on May 10, videos and photos shared on social media showed Palestinians the mosque from a new assault that morning by barricading entrances with furniture and gathering rocks.
Just after 8 am, occupation forces on the compound, firing volleys of stun grenades, tear gas canisters and rubber-coated steel bullets at Palestinians there, injuring worshippers, journalists and medics.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said it attended to almost 400 injured people, with some 220 taken to hospitals.
At least seven Palestinians were seriously hurt, some requiring surgery.
Forces also attacked the women鈥檚 prayer area near Bab al-Rahma, the eastern gate of the compound which has been mostly sealed by Israeli authorities since 2003. Israeli weaponry caused damage inside mosques in the compound.
Palestinians collected empty tear gas canisters, stun grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets and shaped them into an image of the Dome of the Rock and the word 鈥淛erusalem鈥. Yet despite this extreme and indiscriminate violence, Israel鈥檚 police chief Kobi Shabtai that night that his forces had been too restrained and that it was time to take off the 鈥渒id gloves鈥.
Journalists, medics attacked
Among hundreds of Palestinians injured by Israeli forces on Monday were reporters. Israeli soldiers cornered Palestinian photojournalist Faiz Abu Rmeleh and beat him around the head.
Palestinian news outlet Al Qastal three of its reporters were injured by rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas.
Another Palestinian, bleeding from the eye, was carried by medics who told an Anadolu Agency reporter that the injured man was a journalist.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said Israeli forces their medics from entering the al-Aqsa mosque compound where dozens of wounded Palestinians needed medical attention.
A Palestinian doctor from Jerusalem who went to assist the injured said soldiers prevented him from entering the compound 鈥渇rom every gate鈥.
Quds News Network that Israel attempted to expel Palestinian medics from the compound.
Rescue workers were also among the scores injured inside. Israeli forces shot Palestinian paramedic Ahmad Dweikat with a rubber-coated steel bullet under his eye.
Sheikh Jarrah
Israel鈥檚 highest court tried to defuse growing resistance to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by a hearing on the forced expulsion of three families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood on May 9.
Israel is applying openly discriminatory laws in an effort to force Palestinians out of their homes so they may be handed over to Jewish settlers.
A high court judge said the hearing would be rescheduled within a month and Palestinian families would be able to stay in their homes until a decision is made.
Israeli courts have consistently ruled in favour of settler groups to expel Palestinian families from homes in occupied East Jerusalem.
Settler organisations, backed by Israel鈥檚 state apparatus, are unlikely to abandon their efforts to ethnically cleanse the city of Palestinians.
The goal, however, is to do it quietly, without the commotion that comes with an international outcry.
US blocks UN statement
Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations were reportedly mediating between Hamas and Israel to slow the escalation of hostilities.
The United States government expressed its deep concern over 鈥渧iolent confrontations鈥 in Jerusalem but reserved explicit condemnation for rockets fired from Gaza.
Washington鈥檚 mission to the UN Security Council the release of a joint statement condemning violence in Jerusalem.
The European Union鈥檚 envoy to Israel meanwhile he was 鈥渆xtremely concerned" over the violence in Jerusalem but only said that the firing of rockets was 鈥渢otally unacceptable and needs to stop鈥.
[Abridged from .]