The Israeli army says that it intercepted a barrage of rockets fired from Lebanon after Israeli police attacked Palestinians inside Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque for the second night in a row.
Warning sirens had sounded in the town of Shlomi and in Moshav Betzet in northern Israel, the army said.
It was the first rockets fired from Lebanon towards Israel since last April.
The Israeli military later tweeted that 34 rockets had been fired from Lebanon, with 25 intercepted, and at least four landing in Israel.
The rocket attack was followed by a burst of Israeli artillery fire back across the border, said Lebanon’s National News Agency without reporting any casualties.
The Israeli military, however, told AFP that it had not retaliated.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came amid assaults by Israeli forces on Palestinian worshippers at Al-Aqsa this week that led to regional and global condemnation of Israel.
But an Israeli military spokesman blamed the Palestinian group, Hamas, in Lebanon for the incident.
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu was “receiving continuous updates about the security situation and will conduct an assessment with the heads of the security establishment”, his office said.
US State Department spokesperson, Vedant Patel told reporters on Thursday that Washington’s commitment to Israel’s security was “ironclad”.
Writing by Adeniyi Bakare; Editing by Tony Okerafor