Arab rioters clashed with Israeli police on Saturday outside Jerusalem's Old City in violence that threatened to deepen the holy city's worst religious unrest in several years. Riots also erupted in Hebron and along the Gaza security fence.
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Early Sunday, the IDF said Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket at the country's south that fell in an open area. In response, aircraft struck a Hamas military post. There were no reports of casualties in either attack.
Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip and opposes Israel's existence, has called for a new intifada, or uprising.
Late Saturday, several dozen protesters gathered along Gaza's volatile frontier with Israel, burning tires and throwing small explosives at IDF soldiers. Israeli forces fired tear gas at the crowd. No injuries were immediately reported.
In an interview with a Hamas-run TV station, the group's top leader Ismail Haniyeh warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to "play with fire" in Jerusalem.
"Neither you, nor your army and police, can win this battle," he said.
According to the Palestine Red Crescent, more than 60 people were wounded in the clashes in Jerusalem on Saturday, eight of them taken for treatment at local hospitals.
Other reports said more than 200 Palestinians were wounded in clashes at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound and elsewhere in Jerusalem.
Israel Police chief Koby Shabtai said he had deployed more police in Jerusalem following Friday night's clashes, which left 18 police officers wounded. After weeks of nightly violence, Israelis and east Jerusalem Arabs were bracing for more conflict in the coming days.
"The right to demonstrate will be respected but public disturbances will be met with force and zero tolerance. I call on everyone to act responsibly and with restraint," Shabtai said.
Saturday night was "Laylat al-Qadr" or the "Night of Destiny," the most sacred in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Islamic authorities estimated 90,000 people gathered for nighttime prayers at Al-Aqsa, the third-holiest site in Islam.
A large crowd of protesters chanted "God is great" outside the Old City's Damascus Gate, and some pelted police with rocks and water bottles. Police patrols fired stun grenades as they moved through the area, and a police truck periodically fired a water cannon.
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid on Saturday sent words of encouragement to Israeli security forces dealing with the violent conflagration in the capital.
"The State of Israel will not let violence run loose and definitely will not allow terror groups to threaten it," he tweeted. "Whoever wants to harm us must know that he will pay a heavy price."
The weekend violence drew condemnations from Israel's Arab allies and calls for calm from the United States and Europe and the United Nations. The Arab League scheduled an emergency meeting on Monday.
"We call upon Israeli authorities to exercise restraint and to avoid measures that would further escalate the situation during this period of Muslim Holy Days," the Quartet said in a statement.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that law and order would be maintained in Jerusalem as would the right to worship.
Egypt and Jordan, which made peace with Israel decades ago, condemned Israel's actions, as did the Gulf countries of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, two of the four Arab countries that signed US-brokered normalization agreements with Israel last year. The UAE expressed "strong condemnation" of Israel's actions.
Israeli diplomats have contacted officials in Jordan and Egypt in an effort to get them to pressure the Palestinian Authority and Hamas to cease inciting violence.
In a call to Palestine TV late Friday, PA President Mahmoud Abbas praised the "courageous stand" of the protesters and said Israel bore full responsibility for the violence. Abbas last week postponed planned parliamentary elections, citing Israeli restrictions in east Jerusalem for the delay.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, meanwhile, called Israel a "terror state" on Saturday and said Ankara had launched initiatives to mobilize international institutions.
Speaking at an event in Istanbul, Erdogan called on all Muslim countries and the international community to take "effective" steps against Israel, adding that those who remain silent were "a party to the cruelty there."
"The cruel Israel, terror state Israel is mercilessly and unethically attacking Muslims in Jerusalem," Erdogan said.
The Turkish leader, who has a long history of antisemitic and anti-Israel remarks, also tweeted in Hebrew: "We strongly condemn Israel's despicable attacks against the al-Aqsa mosque, which sadly occurs ever Ramadan."
Earlier Saturday, Israeli police stopped a convoy of buses that were filled with Arab citizens on the main highway heading to Jerusalem for Ramadan prayers. Israel's public broadcaster Kan said police stopped the buses for a security check.
Muslims fast from dawn to dusk during Ramadan, and travelers, upset that they were stopped, exited the buses and blocked the highway in protest. Kan showed footage of the protesters praying, chanting slogans and marching along the highway toward Jerusalem. The road was reopened several hours later.
Ibtasam Maraana, an Arab member of Knesset, accused police of a "terrible attack" on freedom of religion. "Police: Remember that they are citizens, not enemies," she wrote on Twitter.
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The current wave of protests broke out at the beginning of Ramadan three weeks ago when Israel restricted gatherings at a popular meeting spot outside Jerusalem's Old City. Israel removed the restrictions, briefly calming the situation, but protests have reignited in recent days over threatened evictions in east Jerusalem. The Foreign Ministry has accused the Palestinians of seizing on the threatened evictions, which it described as a "real-estate dispute between private parties," in order to incite violence.
Other recent developments also contributed to the tense atmosphere, including the postponement of Palestinian elections, deadly violence in which yeshiva student Yehuda Guetta, 19, was murdered in a shooting attack at Tapuah junction last week, and three armed terrorists opened fire at a Border Police base in northern Samaria.
Fearing the situation could escalate further, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi ordered a comprehensive reinforcement of the units already operating in Judea in Samaria.
Lilach Shoval, Itsik Saban, Dean Shmuel Elmas contributed to this report.
