Israeli police arrest dozens in night of chaos in Jerusalem

Israeli police say 44 people have been arrested and 20 officers wounded in a night of chaos in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM -- Israeli police said 44 people were arrested and 20 officers were wounded in a night of chaos in Jerusalem, where security forces separately clashed with Palestinians angry about Ramadan restrictions and Jewish extremists who held an anti-Arab march nearby. Tensions have spiked in recent days in Jerusalem, which has long been a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and is home to holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims. Residents braced for possible further unrest as police stepped up security and the U.S. Embassy appealed for calm. In what seemed a retaliation for the incidents in Jerusalem, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired at least 10 rockets toward Israel late Friday and early Saturday in the worst cross-border flare-up in months. Some of the missiles were intercepted by Israeli air defenses and others fell near the Gaza frontier. The Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for some of the rocket fire and Hamas’ armed wing warned Israel “not to test” its patience. Meanwhile, hundreds of people challenged nightly curfews imposed by Gaza's Hamas rulers to curb the coronavirus outbreak and took to the streets in an act of solidarity with fellow Palestinians in Jerusalem.