Jerusalem Day march ends in airstrikes

Israel hit several Hamas locations in the Gaza Strip with multiple airstrikes early Wednesday. Hamas-linked Palestinians had launched incendiary balloons from Gaza on Tuesday, setting off at least 10 blazes in southern Israel. The militants said the attacks were in response to the Jerusalem Day march through Arab neighborhoods in east Jerusalem. It marks the first escalation since the end of the 11-day war between Israel and Hamas last month, as well as the first test for the country’s new government.

What happened at the march? Hundreds of Jewish nationalists waving Israel’s flag paraded through the Arab neighborhoods on Tuesday, some chanting “Death to Arabs.” Palestinian medics said Israeli police wounded more than 30 people protesting the parade. Palestinians consider the march, which celebrates Israel’s takeover of east Jerusalem in 1967, as offensive. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid condemned the racist slogans as “a disgrace to the Israeli people.” The new coalition government led by right-wing Naftali Bennett came into power on Sunday.

Dig deeper: Read Mindy Belz’s column about the severity of the Israeli-Palestinian fighting.