JERUSALEM (AP) – A rocket launched from Gaza slammed into a house in southern Israel on Thursday, the military said, causing no injuries but adding to the mounting tensions surrounding the suspected revenge killing of an Arab teen in Jerusalem.
Israeli media showed footage of a large hole in the house, in the southern border town of Sderot, where earlier another house was struck, causing heavy damage to the structure and a nearby road and knocking out electricity throughout the town. No one was wounded in that strike.
Police are meanwhile investigating the disappearance of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, whose family says he was abducted Wednesday shortly before a charred body was found in a Jerusalem forest. The family accused extremist Jews of killing him in revenge for the deaths of three Israeli teens, who went missing more than two weeks before their bodies were found in a field in the West Bank.
The suspected killing ignited clashes in east Jerusalem between rock-throwing Palestinians and Israeli forces, who responded with stun grenades and rubber-coated billers. The rioters set tires ablaze and torched three light-rail train shelters.
East Jerusalem was quiet Thursday morning but police said units were still patrolling the area. An Associated Press cameraman filmed Hebrew graffiti reading “death to Israel” and “death to Jews.” Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the graffiti was likely sprayed since Abu Khdeir’s disappearance and that police were looking into it.