[51][52][53][54] Israel then began a campaign of airstrikes against Gaza; by 16 May, some 950 targets had been attacked, demolishing completely or partially 18 buildings, including four high-rise towers, 40 schools and four hospitals, while also striking the al-Shati refugee camp.

[70] At the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in 2021, Jerusalem Islamic Waqf officials said that on the night of 13 April, the Israeli police entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and severed the loudspeaker cables used to broadcast the muezzin's ritual call to prayer so that the Memorial Day speech being delivered by President Reuven Rivlin below at the Western Wall would not be disturbed.

[73] According to author Ramzy Baroud, a video was posted of Ben-Gvir, in a joking exchange with the deputy mayor of Jerusalem, Arieh King, mocking a Palestinian resident shot by Israeli police during a protest.

In a related case, the Jerusalem District Court is holding a hearing on appeals filed on behalf of seven families subject of eviction orders from the Batan al-Hawa section of Silwan.

[93] The Jerusalem-based non-profit organization B'Tselem and the international Human Rights Watch cited discriminatory policies in East Jerusalem in recent reports, alleging that Israel is guilty of the crime of apartheid.

[109][110][111][112] Opinion pieces in NBC News, the Wall Street Journal and Foreign Policy argued that by taking responsibility for the rocket fire, Hamas had improved its standing among Palestinians wary of the delayed elections.

[119] Israeli police subsequently engaged in extensive spraying of Sheikh Jarrah's Palestinian homes, shops, restaurants, public spaces and cultural institutions with Skunk, a lasting stench used to contain protests.

[126] Palestinian crowds threw stones, lit fires, and chanted "Strike Tel Aviv" and "In spirit and in blood, we will redeem al-Aqsa", which The Times of Israel described as in support of Hamas.

The crowd cheered the flames with words from a song from Judges 16:28 in which Samson cries out before he tears down the pillars in Gaza, "O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!

[150][151] As of 13 May, communal violence including "riots, stabbings, arson, attempted home invasions and shootings" was reported from Beersheba, Rahat, Ramla, Lod, Nasiriyah, Tiberias, Jerusalem, Haifa and Acre.

The move led to calls for a boycott of Cellcom among Israeli right-wingers who accused it of showing solidarity with the strike, and several Jewish settlement councils and right-wing organizations cut ties with it.

[166] According to Amnesty International, most of the arrests of Israeli-Arabs were for "insulting or assaulting a police officer" or "taking part in an illegal gathering" while right-wing Jewish extremists were mainly able to organize freely.

[195] That same day, the Israeli Air Force launched a massive bombardment of Hamas' extensive underground tunnel network, which was known as "the metro", as well as above-ground positions, reportedly inflicting heavy casualties.

[215][216] Speaking to The Independent, a senior Israeli military official said that the civilian death toll was unexpected and that the attack had been aimed at the center of the road to minimize collateral damage, but that the IDF's calculations had failed to anticipate the collapse of nearby buildings.

[222] In addition, the IDF sank Hamas' fleet of small unmanned submarines designed to explode under or near Israeli naval vessels or oil and gas drilling rigs.

[230][231][221][195] In three instances, Hamas attempted to launch cross-border raids into Israel to kill or kidnap soldiers and civilians, utilizing tunnels that approached but did not cross into Israeli territory to enable its fighters to get close.

[232] According to Israeli journalist Haviv Rettig Gur, Israel systematically thwarted Hamas' tactical innovations and destroyed the military infrastructure it had prepared for a future war, which proved "ineffective or outright useless".

[235][236] On 13 May at least three rockets were fired from the coastal area of Qlaileh just south of the Palestinian refugee camp of Rashidieh in the Southern Lebanese district of Tyre across the Israeli–Lebanese border, according to the IDF, landing in the Mediterranean Sea.

[47][250] On 13 May, as part of a feint intended to deceive Hamas into sending their men into tunnels before they were programmed to be bombed, the IDF's 162nd Division subjected a section of the northern Gaza Strip to an intense artillery barrage of 500 shells.

[253] When the ceasefire came into effect, the Palestinian National Authority set the number of entire families killed at 20, and announced it will lodge a complaint at the International Court of Justice for "war crimes" in that regard.

[51] In late July 2021, Human Rights Watch (HRW) raised the possibility that both parties in the conflict had engaged in war crimes on the basis of field reports regarding specific incidents.

The draft statement called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and condemned the violence in Gaza;[265][292] it urged all parties, especially Israel, to use restraint,[292] but made no mention of the rocket attacks by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

[69] On 19 May, Biden held a phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, expressing to his Israeli counterpart that "he expected a significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire.

[306] The UN security council finally released an agreed statement calling for full adherence to the truce and stressing the immediate need for humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians while reiterating the need for the two-state solution.

[85] UNHRC was to investigate "systematic discrimination and repression" in Israel and Palestine to identify the root causes of the crisis,[311] after a resolution drafted for the Organisation of Islamic Conference received 24 supporting votes and 9 opposing ones.

[312] Subsequently, on 22 July 2021, UNHRC announced that former United Nations high commissioner Navi Pillay would head the international commission of inquiry into alleged crimes committed during the crisis and report in June 2022.

Some reconstruction material has begun to enter Gaza through Egypt but Israel is currently limiting what can arrive through its crossing points and blocked the supply of financial aid from Qatar.

"The U.N. is in contact with all relevant parties on matters related to the cessation of hostilities", said Tor Wennesland, the United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process.

[325] On 10 May 2021, Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, issued a statement that the "brutal storming and assault on worshipers in the blessed al-Aqsa Mosque and its courtyards is a new challenge to the international community.

[327][328][329] Israel's Minister for Public Security Amir Ohana called for the release of the Israeli man arrested for the shooting of an Arab in Lod, arguing without providing evidence that the suspect was acting in self-defense and law-abiding citizens bearing arms assist the authorities.