Smoke and flames rise after an Israeli strike Al-Shorouq tower in Gaza City, 12 May 2021. In response to days of violent confrontations between Israeli security forces and Palestinians in Jerusalem, various Palestinian militants factions in Gaza launched rocket attacks since 10 May that killed at least six Israelis to date. Gaza Strip's health ministry said that at least 65 Palestinians, including 13 children, were killed in the recent retaliatory Israeli airstrikes. Hamas confirmed the death of Bassem Issa, its Gaza City commander, during an airstrike. (Photo by Mohammed Saber/EPA/EFE)





Residents inspect a car that was hit in an Israeli airstrike that killed three people in the car, on the main road in Gaza City, Wednesday, May 12, 2021. (Photo by Adel Hana/AP Photo)





Medics and youths chant while carrying the covered body of a man, who was killed in Israeli airstrikes that hit his apartment building, in Gaza City, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. Since Monday, Gaza militants have fired hundreds of rockets toward Israel. Israel has fired back, hitting targets inside Gaza that included a high-rise building in the middle of Gaza City. (Photo by Adel Hana/AP Photo)





Rockets are launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, Wednesday, May 12, 2021. (Photo by Khalil Hamra/AP Photo)





Mourners attend the funeral of Leah Yom Tov, 63, at a cemetery in Rishon Lezion, Israel, Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Yom Tov was killed from a rocket that was fired from Gaza Strip and hit her house in Rishon Lezion on May 11. (Photo by Sebastian Scheiner/AP Photo)





An Israeli soldier stands guard next to an Iron Dome air defense system as smoke rises from an oil tank on fire after it was hit by a rocket fire from Gaza Strip, near the town of Ashkelon, Israel,, Wednesday, May 12, 2021. (Photo by Ariel Schalit/AP Photo)





Israeli police patrol during clashes between Arabs, police and Jews, in the mixed town of Lod, central Israel, Wednesday, May 12, 2021. As rockets from Gaza streaked overhead, Arabs and Jews fought each other on the streets below. Rioters torched vehicles, a restaurant and a synagogue in one of the worst spasms of communal violence that Israel has seen in years. (Photo by Heidi Levine/AP Photo)





Streaks of light are seen as Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercept rockets launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel on May 12, 2021. (Photo by Amir Cohen/Reuters)





A picture taken with a drone shows the remains of a tower building which was destroyed in Israeli air strikes, amid a flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian violence, in Gaza City on May 12, 2021. (Photo by Mohammed Salem/Reuters)





Weeks of violent clashes in East Jerusalem have ignited the heaviest fighting in years between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. At the core of the violence that has left dozens dead are tensions between Israelis and Palestinians over Jerusalem, which contains sites sacred to Judaism, Islam and Christianity. As both sides appear to be digging in for more prolonged fighting, here are some of the factors that triggered the escalation. Pictured: Flames and smoke rise during Israeli air strikes amid a flare-up of Israel-Palestinian violence, in the southern Gaza Strip May 11, 2021. (Photo by Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters)





Palestinian rescuers evacuate an elderly woman from a building following Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City, Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Rockets streamed out of Gaza and Israel pounded the territory with airstrikes early Wednesday as the most severe outbreak of violence since the 2014 war took on many of the hallmarks of that devastating 50-day conflict, with no endgame in sight. (Photo by Khalil Hamra/AP Photo)





An Israeli artillery unit fires toward targets in Gaza Strip, at the Israeli Gaza border, Wednesday, May 12, 2021. (Photo by Yonatan Sindel/AP Photo)





An Israeli paramedic checks the blood pressure of a young girl at residential building after it was hit by a rocket fired from Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Wednesday, May 12, 2021. (Photo by Tsafrir Abayov/AP Photo)





Smoke is seen from a collapsed building after it was hit by Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City, Wednesday, May 12, 2021. The Israeli airstrike was the latest in a series of assaults on targets in the Gaza Strip after a long dispute between Israel and Hamas erupted into an exchange of rocket attacks from Gaza and Israeli retaliation. (Photo by Khalil Hamra/AP Photo)





Israeli riot police tries to block a Jewish right-wing man as clashes erupted between Arabs, police and Jews, in the mixed town of Lod, central Israel, Wednesday, May 12, 2021. As rockets from Gaza streaked overhead, Arabs and Jews fought each other on the streets below. Rioters torched vehicles, a restaurant and a synagogue in one of the worst spasms of communal violence that Israel has seen in years. (Photo by Heidi Levine/AP Photo)





Smoke rises from 14-story building as Israeli fighter jets continue to pound a Palestinian building called “Ash-Shuruq” at Omar Al-Mukhtar neighbourhood in the Gaza Strip, on May 12, 2021. (Photo by Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)





Men carry a coffin with the body of Elvira Ignatieva, an English language teacher, in Kazan, Russia, Wednesday, May 12, 2021, who was killed in a shooting at a school on Tuesday. Russian officials say a gunman attacked a school in the city of Kazan and Russian officials say several people have been killed. Officials said the dead in Tuesday's shooting include students, a teacher and a school worker. Authorities also say over 20 others have been hospitalised with wounds. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)





Ilnaz Galyaviyev, centre,wearing a face mask to protect against coronavirus, stands behind a glass, surrounded by police officers during a hearing in a courtroom in Kazan, Russia, Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Russian officials say Galyaviyev attacked a school in the city of Kazan and Russian officials say several people have been killed. Russian media said the gunman was a former student at the school who called himself “a god” on his account on the messaging app Telegram and promised to “kill a large amount of biomass” on the morning of the shooting. Authorities also say over 20 others have been hospitalised with wounds. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)





People react next to the grave of Elvira Ignatieva, an English language teacher who was killed at a school shooting on Tuesday in Kazan, Russia, Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Russian officials say a gunman attacked a school in the city of Kazan and Russian officials say several people have been killed. Officials said the dead in Tuesday's shooting include students, a teacher and a school worker. Authorities also say over 20 others have been hospitalised with wounds. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)





Nuns attend Pope Francis' weekly General Audience in the Courtyard of St Damasus on May 12, 2021 in Vatican City, Vatican. Pope Francis recalled the attack on St Pope John Paul II 40 years ago, the liturgical feast of Our Lady of Fatima and he invited the faithful to recite the Holy Rosary for the end of the pandemic. (Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images)





Journalists listen to the Fabio Wajngarten, former Communications Secretary, testify during a Brazilian Senate commission inquiry investigating the government’s management of the COVID-19 pandemic, in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Wajngarten is an ally of President Jair Bolsonaro, who has been one of the world’s most prominent opponents of restrictions aimed at curbing the disease. (Photo by Eraldo Peres/AP Photo)





A group of dancers perform the Morenada dance in the Plaza de San Francisco in La Paz, Bolivia, 12 May 2021. Bolivia announced this 12 May the formation of a committee for the safeguarding of dances such as the morenada and the caporales, also preparing demonstrations and festivals to preserve the “identity” of the country's heritage, before the declaration of the Morenada as Cultural Heritage of Puno in Peru. (Photo by Martin Alipaz/EPA/EFE)





Nursing and care personnel lay on the floor in the ICU unit, during a demonstration on International Nursing and Care day, at the Mont Legia Hospital in Liege, Belgium, Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Hospital personnel around Belgium took part in various actions around the country on Wednesday to highlight the work they do and demand better recognition. (Photo by Valentin Bianchi/AP Photo)