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JERUSALEM — Hamas militants fired dozens of rockets into Israel on Monday, including a barrage that set off air raid sirens as far away as Jerusalem, after hundreds of Palestinians were hurt in clashes with Israeli police at a flashpoint religious site in the contested holy city.

The rocket fire drew heavy Israeli retaliation in the Gaza Strip. Health officials said at least 20 people, including nine children, were killed in fighting, making it one of the bloodiest days of battle between the bitter enemies in several years.

The fighting escalated already heightened tensions throughout the region following weeks of confrontations between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters in Jerusalem. Those confrontations, focused around a disputed hilltop compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, have threatened to spark a wider conflict.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of crossing a “red line” with the rocket attack on Jerusalem, some 60 miles north of Gaza, and promised a tough response.

“Whoever attacks us will pay a heavy price,” he said, warning that the fighting could “continue for some time.”

In Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price condemned “in the strongest terms” the rocket fire on Israel and called on all sides to calm the situation.

“More broadly, we’re deeply concerned about the situation in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, including violent confrontations in Jerusalem,” he said.

A diplomatic official said that the United Nations, Egypt and Qatar, which frequently mediate between Israel and Hamas, were all trying to halt the fighting. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue with the media.

The Israeli military said well over 50 rockets were fired into Israel throughout the evening, most of them aimed at southern Israeli towns near the border.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said six rockets were aimed at Jerusalem in what was believed to be the first rocket attack on the city since a 2014 war.

Shortly after the sirens sounded, explosions could be heard in Jerusalem. One rocket fell on the western outskirts of the city, lightly damaging a home and causing a brush fire. The Israeli army said one rocket was intercepted and the others fell in open areas.

Israel was responding with airstrikes on Hamas targets throughout Gaza. The army said rocket launchers and eight militants had been targeted.

In Gaza, health officials reported a total of 20 deaths, including nine children.

It did not provide a breakdown, but at least seven members of a family, including three children, were killed in a blast in the northern town of Beit Hanoun. It was not immediately clear if the blast was caused by an airstrike or errant rocket.

Ashraf al-Masri, a member of the family, said there was an explosion outside the house.

“We don’t know where it came from,” he said. “We are trying to get the children for burial but the situation is difficult in Beit Hanoun and we are afraid to leave our houses.”

The Israeli army said an Israeli civilian in the country’s south suffered mild injuries when a vehicle was struck by an anti-tank missile from Gaza.

Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’ military wing, said the attack on Jerusalem was a response to what he called Israeli “crimes and aggression” in the city. “This is a message the enemy has to understand well,” he said.

He threatened more attacks if Israeli forces re-enter the sacred Al-Aqsa Mosque compound or carry out planned evictions of Palestinian families from an east Jerusalem neighborhood.

Earlier, Israeli police firing tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets clashed with stone-throwing Palestinians at the iconic compound, which is Islam’s third-holiest site and considered Judaism’s holiest. Tensions at the site have been the trigger for prolonged bouts of violence in the past, including the last Palestinian intifada, or uprising.

More than a dozen tear gas canisters and stun grenades landed in the mosque as police and protesters faced off inside the walled compound that surrounds it, said an Associated Press photographer at the scene. Smoke rose in front of the mosque and the golden-domed shrine on the site, and rocks littered the nearby plaza. Inside one area of the compound, shoes and debris lay scattered over ornate carpets.

More than 300 Palestinians were hurt, including 228 who went to hospitals and clinics for treatment, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. Police said 21 officers were hurt, including three who were hospitalized. Israeli paramedics said seven Israeli civilians were also hurt.

In an apparent attempt to avoid further confrontation, Israeli authorities changed the planned route of a march by ultra-nationalist Jews through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City to mark Jerusalem Day, which celebrates Israel’s capture of east Jerusalem.

Monday’s confrontation was the latest after weeks of almost nightly clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops in the Old City of Jerusalem, the emotional center of their conflict, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The month tends to be a time of heightened religious sensitivities.

Most recently, the tensions have been fueled by the planned eviction of dozens of Palestinians from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of east Jerusalem, where Israeli settlers have waged a lengthy legal battle to take over properties.

Israel’s Supreme Court postponed a key ruling Monday in the case, citing the “circumstances.”

Over the past few days, hundreds of Palestinians and several dozen police officers have been hurt in clashes in and around the Old City, including the sacred compound, which is known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.

The tensions in Jerusalem have threatened to reverberate throughout the region and come at a crucial point in Israel’s political crisis after Netanyahu failed to form a governing coalition last week. His opponents are now working to build an alternate government.

Before Monday’s rocket attack on Jerusalem, Palestinian militants had fired several barrages of rockets into southern Israel. Protesters allied with Hamas have launched dozens of incendiary balloons into Israel, setting off fires across the southern part of the country.

Hamas, an Islamic militant group that seeks Israel’s destruction, has fought three wars with Israel since it seized power in Gaza in 2007. The group possesses a vast arsenal of missiles and rockets capable of striking virtually anywhere in Israel.

Israel’s actions in Jerusalem have come under growing international criticism.

The U.N. Security Council scheduled closed consultations on the situation Monday. The United States and European Union have expressed deep concern over the unrest in Jerusalem, urging Israel to calm the situation and not carry out the planned evictions. Arab allies of Israel, along with Turkey, also have condemned Israel’s actions.

Netanyahu pushed back against the criticism Monday, saying Israel is determined to ensure the rights of worship for all and that this “requires from time to time stand up and stand strong as Israeli police and our security forces are doing now.”

In the 1967 Mideast war in which Israel captured east Jerusalem, it also took the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It later annexed east Jerusalem and considers the entire city its capital. The Palestinians seek all three areas for a future state, with east Jerusalem as their capital.

___

Akram reported from Gaza City, Gaza Strip. Associated Press Writer Matthew Lee in Washington also contributed to this report.

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Playing the White Sox “if you had told me” game can last longer than a game of Monopoly.

It might start with “if you told me a year ago Tony La Russa would be the manager” and just keep going.

And continue with “if Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert would be out for most or all of the season” and “if Carlos Rodon was the best left-hander in baseball his first five starts.”

No one saw a lot of things we’re seeing from the 2021 Sox, a team that was third in the majors in homers in 2020 and 28^th this season but still leading the American League Central and leading the majors in run differential (+53).

Lots of unforeseen things have unfolded, and through them all, La Russa managed to have the Sox enjoying an off day Monday in first place. There are 130 games left, but the 32 played offers a template of what they might look like from here on out.

It wasn’t what we thought they’d look like, not when Leury Garcia is playing center field in a 9-3 victory to complete a series sweep in Kansas City, flanked by Andrew Vaughn and Danny Mendick in the corners. It wasn’t what general manager Rick Hahn had in mind in this the first year he expected to field a World Series contender, but that’s what injuries do.

With Rodon showing the way, the Sox have the best starting rotation in baseball right now, with Micahel Kopech building up his endurance to start when needed. The way the rotation is going now, Kopech (1.61, ERA in nine appearances including two starts) will have to settle for spot starts — that’s how good it is. The bullpen, expected by many to be the Sox’ greatest strength, is still taking shape with roles being sorted out.

But the offense as currently modeled is something no one saw coming. Buoyed by Yermin Mercedes’ Rookie of the Month explosion, a significant improvement in team walks taken and strikeouts given and an on-base percentage ranking second in the majors, the Sox are second in baseball with 5.12 runs per game, even though their hard-contact rate ranks 19^th.

It’s a hit-and-miss, up-and-down offense, demonstrated by run totals in the last 14 games: 9, 2, 8, 2, 3, 11, 3, 7, 0, 9, 0, 3, 9, 9.

Mendick, a utility infielder by trade, had the only Sox homer of the three-game sweep. But the Sox scored 21 runs.

“If we do what we did tonight, we’re going to score a lot of runs,” La Russa said Saturday. “The biggest mistake now is always trying to hit home runs and not just getting the ball to the barrel. If we start doing that we’ll go backward.”

La Russa said the homers will come when the weather warms up.

“As long as we make great contact, our offense is in great shape,” he said.

It wouldn’t hurt if Vaughn, who is finding some groove with a .319 average and five doubles in his last 14 games, would show more pop. He hasn’t homered after hitting six in a small sample size of 55 minor league games, none above Class A.

And it wouldn’t hurt if catcher Yasmani Grandal, who has walked 27 times, would show more power. Grandal’s 109 home runs since 2016 rank second among all catchers, but they’re slow to come this season — he has two.

While waiting for the long ball, the Sox will rely on putting the ball in play, getting on base and hitting well with two strikes. Nick Madrigal (.333), Mendick (.316) and Mercedes (.271) ranked first, fourth and ninth, respectively, in average with two strikes.

La Russa knows he can’t sit back and wait for the three-run homer. The Sox will have to manufacture runs.

“Absolutely, I think you have to,” he said after Robert went down. “You just play with what you’ve got.

“Small ball is really important in close games against really good pitching. It’s also, if the lineup fits small ball, you play small ball.”

White Sox offense in majors through Sunday:

Runs 4^th, 164

Hits 7^th, 272

Home runs 28^th, 27

Strikeouts 22^nd, 282

Walks 9^th, 123

On-base percentage 2^nd, .339

Average 4^th, .255

Slugging 15^th, .391

OPS 8^th, .729

TWINS AT SOX

Tuesday: Dylan Cease (2-0, 2.37) vs. Kenta Maeda (2-2, 5.02) 7:10 p.m., NBCSCH, 1000-AM

Wednesday: Dallas Keuchel (1-1, 3.79) vs. J.A. Happ (2-0, 1.91), 7:10 p.m., NBCSCH, 1000-AM

Thursday: Carlos Rodon (5-0, 0.58) vs. Michael Pineda (2-1, 2.43), 1:10 p.m., NBCSCH, 1000-AM

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STOWE, Vt. — Eduardo Rovetto is hoping the state of Vermont’s reinstated requirement that people who are collecting unemployment benefits must seek work to qualify will help him hire enough staff for his restaurant in the resort town of Stowe.

After more than a year of coronavirus restrictions on his business, Piecasso Pizzeria & Lounge, he’s expecting a breakout summer tourism season, but like employers across the country he’s worried he won’t have enough workers.

“We’ve been getting many excuses as to why not to return,” said Rovetto, who is offering a signing bonus of up to $600 to try to add 15 to 20 employees who agree to stay through the middle of October. “Obviously, it was a legitimate one with COVID, but, you know, I think that’s getting used less and less now. The vaccines are free, they are out there for anyone.”

Many employers are telling similar stories. Fourteen months after COVID-19 put hundreds of thousands of people out of work, the U.S. economy is rebounding and employers are desperate for workers.

The challenge was highlighted Friday when employers nationwide added 266,000 jobs, far fewer than expected, and businesses reported they couldn’t find people to fill the openings they have to keep up with the rapidly strengthening economic rebound.

To encourage people to return to work, more states are making it harder for people to stay on unemployment. Many blame the easy benefits that followed the pandemic, including what is now a $300 a week supplemental federal payment on top of state benefits. The argument is that people make more money staying home than going back to work.

Several states have begun requiring those receiving unemployment benefits to show they are actively searching for work, and a few will stop providing the additional federal supplement.

It’s not just the hospitality sector that is scrambling to fill positions. Alene Candles, based in Milford, New Hampshire, is looking to fill 1,500 positions for its facility there and another in New Albany, Ohio, to meet demand for the holiday season. Company representatives will be participating in a number of virtual job fairs this month.

“We have had more than 100 positions open since the start of the year, and just recently we increased sign-on bonuses to $1,200 for hourly positions — in-part because we are competing with an entity that can print its own money — the federal government — and its $300 per week additional unemployment benefit,” said CEO Rod Harl. “I would love to welcome those searching for work to join our team.”

On Monday, the state of New Hampshire reopened its job centers for the first time since the pandemic hit to help people looking for work, but only a handful showed up in the first few hours at the largest one in Manchester.

Labor experts say the shortage is not just about the $300 payment. Some unemployed people also have been reluctant to look for work because they fear catching the virus. Others have found new occupations rather than return to their old jobs. And many women, especially working mothers, have had to leave the workforce to care for children.

The details and the timing of the state-led efforts to get people back to work differ, but they are coming from states led by both Republicans and Democrats.

In addition to Vermont, states reinstating the work-search requirement include Arizona, Maine, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and South Carolina.

“As President Reagan said, the best social program is a job,” Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey said when announcing the resumption of the work-search requirement. “This statement rings true today. Unemployment benefits are still available to Arizonans who need them, but now that plenty of jobs are available, those receiving the benefits should be actively looking for work.”

Montana, South Carolina and Arkansas are planning to stop accepting the $300 benefit.

In announcing last week that beginning June 27 unemployed workers will no longer receive the $300 benefit, Montana Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte said it was “doing more harm than good.”

Rachel Mata, an area manager for a Fayetteville, North Carolina-based staffing company, said it’s been increasingly difficult to find people for positions since the passage of the latest federal COVID-19 relief bill.

“We get candidates who will mention, ‘Hey, you know, why would I go to work when I get paid more on unemployment to sit at home?'” said Mata.

At a recent job fair, only one candidate showed up, said Mata, whose company, Mega Force Staffing Group Inc., mainly focuses on manufacturing jobs. In other cases, candidates have gone through the staffing company’s onboarding process, only to not show up on their start date.

In Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the heart of the state’s $20 billion tourism industry, restaurants and resorts are scrambling for summer help. Angelo Verdone, an assistant general manager at Seaside Resorts, said hotels are so short-staffed that managers are working double duty, cleaning rooms and doing maintenance. He is working some front desk shifts.

Some applicants have responded to ads but failed to attend the interviews; others have gotten offers but did not show up to the job itself.

Though the company has offered a $500 sign-on bonus for its $11-an-hour housekeeping role, it got no takers.

“It’s not like they’re bad jobs,” Verdone said. “Most years, people are beating down the front door for the front desk jobs.”

William Spriggs, an economist at Howard University and the chief economist for the AFL-CIO, said the issue isn’t as simple as the unemployed being able to receive more benefits. He says the economy has changed.

He said he didn’t think the job-search requirement is bad, but it won’t solve the labor shortage.

“Matching workers to employers isn’t as easy as people think, which is what some of these employers are finding out,” Spriggs said.

There might be a lot of jobs available, but in some cases they don’t fit for the unemployed with specialized work skills.

“I am a master technician with 30 years experience. You think I am going to go work in a pet store?” said Harry Chaikin, an out-of-work stagehand from Burlington, Vermont, who lost his job last year when the theater where he works stopped offering performances.

Chaikin says he is eager to return to work when theaters resume normal performances. He’s receiving unemployment, including the $300 supplemental benefit, but he’s still months behind in his rent.

“The sense of optimism I feel is that human nature being what it is, I know that sooner or later people are going to gather again in big groups to be entertained, and when that happens I will have work,” he said.

And people are still losing their jobs.

Crystal Dvorak, 41, an audiologist in Billings, Montana, with two teenage daughters, weathered a furlough early in the pandemic, dipping deep into her savings, only to find out last month that she would lose her job when the clinic where she worked for nearly nine years had been sold.

Gianforte announced on June 27 the $300 benefit would end, Dvorak’s second day of unemployment.

“It had me in tears,” she said.

After learning that unemployment benefits would be discontinued and replaced with a return-to-work, one-time bonus of $1,200, Dvorak began applying for waitressing jobs, even though it could complicate her search.

“Knowing that change is coming, I’m having to be open to other positions,” she said. “I have shown interest in more jobs in the last week than I have applied for my entire 25 years of working.”

—

Associated Press writers Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Virginia, Iris Samuels in Helena, Montana, Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, Michelle Liu in Columbia, South Carolina, and statehouse reporters across the country contributed.

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WASHINGTON — Hit by a cyberattack, the operator of a major U.S. fuel pipeline said Monday it hopes to have services mostly restored by the end of the week as the FBI and administration officials identified the culprits as a gang of criminal hackers.

Colonial Pipeline, which delivers about 45% of the fuel consumed on the East Coast, halted operations last week after revealing a ransomware attack that it said had affected some of its systems. On Monday, U.S. officials sought to soothe concerns about price spikes or damage to the economy by stressing that the fuel supply had so far not been disrupted, and the company said it was working toward “substantially restoring operational service” by the weekend.

Nonetheless, the attack underscored the vulnerabilities of the nation’s energy sector and other critical industries whose infrastructure is largely privately owned. Ransomware attacks are typically carried out by criminal hackers who scramble data, paralyzing victim networks, and demand large payments to decrypt it.

The Colonial attack was a potent reminder of the real-world implications of the burgeoning threat. Even as the Biden administration works to confront organized hacking campaigns sponsored by foreign governments, it must still contend with difficult-to-prevent attacks from cybercriminals.

“We need to invest to safeguard our critical infrastructure,” President Joe Biden said Monday.

The attack came as the administration, still grappling with its response to massive breaches by Russia of federal agencies and private corporations, works on an executive order aimed at bolstering cybersecurity defenses. The Justice Department, meanwhile, has formed a ransomware task force designed for situations just like Colonial Pipeline, and the Energy Department on April 20 announced a 100-day initiative focused on protecting energy infrastructure from cyber threats. Similar actions are planned for other critical industries.

Despite that, the challenge facing the government and the private sector remains immense.

In this case, the FBI moved with unusual speed to pinpoint blame, saying the criminal syndicate whose ransomware was used in the attack is named DarkSide. The group’s members are Russian speakers, and the syndicate’s malware is coded not to attack networks using Russian-language keyboards.

Anne Neuberger, the White House deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology, said at a briefing that the group emerged just months ago. She said the group’s business model is to demand ransom payments from victims and then split the proceeds, relying on what she said was a “new and very troubling variant.”

She declined to say if Colonial Pipeline had paid any ransom, and the company has not given any indication of that one way or the other. Though the FBI has historically discouraged victims from making payments for fear of promoting additional attacks, she acknowledged “the very difficult” situation that victims face and said the administration needs to look “thoughtfully at this area” of how best to deter ransomware.

The U.S. sanctioned the Kremlin last month for a hack of federal government agencies that officials have linked to a military intelligence unit and described as an intelligence-gathering operation. In this case, though, the hackers are not known to be working at the behest of any foreign government.

The group posted a statement on its dark web site describing itself as apolitical. “Our goal is to make money, and not creating problems for society,” DarkSide said.

Asked Monday whether Russia was involved, Biden said, “”I’m going to be meeting with President (Vladimir) Putin, and so far there is no evidence based on, from our intelligence people, that Russia is involved, although there is evidence that the actors, ransomware, is in Russia.

“They have some responsibility to deal with this,” he added.

U.S. officials have sought to head off anxieties about the prospect of a lingering economic impact and disruption to the fuel supply, especially given Colonial Pipeline’s key role in transporting gasoline, jet fuel, diesel and other petroleum products through 10 states between Texas and New Jersey.

Colonial is in the process of restarting portions of its network. It said Monday that it was evaluating the product inventory in storage tanks at its facilities. Administration officials stressed that the company proactively took some of its systems offline, as opposed to hackers doing it, and that its operating systems were spared.

In response to the attack, the administration loosened regulations for the transport of petroleum products on highways as part of an “all-hands-on-deck” effort to avoid disruptions in the fuel supply.

“The time of the outage is now approaching critical levels and if it continues to remain down we do expect an increase in East Coast gasoline and diesel prices,” said Debnil Chowdhury, IHS Markit Executive Director. The last time there was an outage of this magnitude was in 2016, he said, when gas prices rose 15 to 20 cents per gallon. But the Northeast had significantly more local refining capacity at that time, potentially intensifying any impact.

If the pipeline outage persists, the industry may want to turn to barges to transport fuel, but that could require a waiver of the Jones Act, a U.S. maritime law that requires products shipped between U.S. ports to be moved by American-flagged ships.

The pipeline utilizes both common and custom technology systems, which could complicate efforts to bring the entire network back online, according to analysts at Third Bridge.

Gasoline futures ticked higher Monday. Futures for crude and fuel, prices that traders pay for contracts for delivery in the future, typically begin to rise anyway each year as the driving season approaches. The price you pay at the pump tends to follow.

The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline has jumped 6 cents over the past two weeks, to $3.02 per gallon, which is $1.05 higher than a year ago. The year-ago numbers are skewed somewhat because the nation was going into lockdown due to the pandemic.

The attack on the Colonial Pipeline could exacerbate the upward pressure on prices if it is unresolved for a period of time.

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The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor

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By Dennis Byrne,
today at 3:03 pm

Planned Parenthood, again.

Using tissues from aborted babies for research apparently doesn’t bother some people because for them a baby in the womb isn’t a real person, can’t feel pain, has no right to live and will survive only at someone else’s discretion–for whatever reason, including convenience.

For me, it is too close to human experimentation and–you’ll blast me for this–is a reminder of the Nazi experiments performed on helpless, deformed and otherwise “unworthy” individuals. It’s too close to the kind of eugenics and manipulation of the human essence advocated by Planned Parenthood’s founder, Margaret Sanger. It’s dehumanization.

The video below provides the details of the cycle of how Planned Parenthood provides body parts taken from aborted babies, allegedly some of them still alive, the University of Pittsburgh researchers and federal funding.

I cannot independently confirm the facts reported here, but before you call it one more crazy far-right conspiracy theories, please address the facts themselves instead of handing me the usual bag of crap about arguing from authority.

I post it here because you know this will never see the light of day on liberal corporate media.

[embedded content]

Written details from the Center for Medical Progress are here.

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abortion, fetal body parts

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    Dennis Byrne

    28 minutes ago

    In reply to jnorto:

    As usual, avoiding the substance and the facts as stated.
    Read the story | Reply to this comment
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    Dennis Byrne

    29 minutes ago

    In reply to jnorto:

    Nope. Notice that “surrogate mother” still retains the word “mother.” Unless, of course, you prefer “surrogate birthing person.”
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    jnorto

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    Do you find “surrogate mother” dehumanizing? She’s defined by her function.
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    As usual, much bluster. No links.
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    Look, Cori Bush is a quite junior representative from St. Louis. She partly chose the words “birthing person” to provoke…
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The early evening attack drastically escalated what already are heightened tensions throughout the region following weeks of confrontations between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters in Jerusalem that have threatened to become a wider conflict.

JERUSALEM — Hamas militants fired dozens of rockets into Israel on Monday, including a barrage that set off air raid sirens as far away as Jerusalem, after hundreds of Palestinians were hurt in clashes with Israeli police at a flashpoint religious site in the contested holy city.

The early evening attack on Jerusalem drastically escalated the already heightened tensions throughout the region following weeks of confrontations between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters that have threatened to become a wider conflict.

The Israeli military responded with airstrikes in Gaza that killed at least two people. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of an open-ended operation against the territory’s Hamas militant rulers.

In a speech, Netanyahu accused Gaza militants of crossing a “red line” with the latest rocket fire and promised a tough response.

“Whoever attacks us will pay a heavy price,” he said, warning that the fighting could ”continue for a while.”

In Washington, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the administration, including President Joe Biden himself, was monitoring the violence.

“We have serious concerns about the situation, including violent confrontations that we’ve seen over the last few days,” she told reporters. The U.S. Embassy in Israel said the rocket fire was “unacceptable.”

The Israeli military said well over 50 rockets were fired into Israel throughout the evening, most of them aimed at southern Israeli towns near the border.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said six rockets were aimed at Jerusalem, some 60 miles away. It was believed to be the first rocket attack on the city since a 2014 war.

Shortly after the sirens sounded, explosions could be heard in Jerusalem. One rocket fell on the western outskirts of the city, lightly damaging a home and causing a brush fire. The Israeli army said one rocket was intercepted and the others fell in open areas.

Israel was responding with airstrikes on Hamas targets throughout Gaza. Health officials reported a total of nine deaths — including two people killed in an airstrike and seven members of a family, including three children, killed in a separate blast in the northern town of Beit Hanoun. It was not immediately clear if the blast was caused by an airstrike or errant rocket.

Ashraf al-Masri, a member of the family, said there was an explosion outside the house.

“We don’t know where it came from,” he said. “We are trying to get the children for burial but the situation is difficult in Beit Hanoun and we are afraid to leave our houses.”

The Israeli army said an Israeli civilian in the country’s south suffered mild injuries when a vehicle was struck by an anti-tank missile from Gaza.

Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’ military wing, said the attack on Jerusalem was a response to what he called Israeli “crimes and aggression” in the city. “This is a message the enemy has to understand well,” he said.

He threatened more attacks if Israeli forces re-enter the sacred Al-Aqsa Mosque compound or carry out planned evictions of Palestinian families from an east Jerusalem neighborhood.

Earlier, Israeli police firing tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets clashed with stone-throwing Palestinians at the iconic compound, which is Islam’s third-holiest site and considered Judaism’s holiest. Tensions at the site have been the trigger for prolonged bouts of violence in the past, including the last Palestinian intifada, or uprising. It was not clear if the current unrest would escalate or dissipate in the coming days.

More than a dozen tear gas canisters and stun grenades landed in the mosque as police and protesters faced off inside the walled compound that surrounds it, said an Associated Press photographer at the scene. Smoke rose in front of the mosque and the golden-domed shrine on the site, and rocks littered the nearby plaza. Inside one area of the compound, shoes and debris lay scattered over ornate carpets.

More than 300 Palestinians were hurt, including 228 who went to hospitals and clinics for treatment, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. Police said 21 officers were hurt, including three who were hospitalized. Israeli paramedics said seven Israeli civilians were also hurt.

In an apparent attempt to avoid further confrontation, Israeli authorities changed the planned route of a march by ultra-nationalist Jews through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City to mark Jerusalem Day, which celebrates Israel’s capture of east Jerusalem.

Monday’s confrontation was the latest after weeks of almost nightly clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops in the Old City of Jerusalem, the emotional center of their conflict, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The month tends to be a time of heightened religious sensitivities.

Most recently, the tensions have been fueled by the planned eviction of dozens of Palestinians from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of east Jerusalem, where Israeli settlers have waged a lengthy legal battle to take over properties.

Israel’s Supreme Court postponed a key ruling Monday in the case, citing the “circumstances.”

Over the past few days, hundreds of Palestinians and several dozen police officers have been hurt in clashes in and around the Old City, including the sacred compound, which is known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.

The tensions in Jerusalem have threatened to reverberate throughout the region and come at a crucial point in Israel’s political crisis after Netanyahu failed to form a governing coalition last week. His opponents are now working to build an alternate government.

Before Monday’s rocket attack on Jerusalem, Palestinian militants had fired several barrages of rockets into southern Israel. Protesters allied with Hamas have launched dozens of incendiary balloons into Israel, setting off fires across the southern part of the country.

Hamas, an Islamic militant group that seeks Israel’s destruction, has fought three wars with Israel since it seized power in Gaza in 2007. The group possesses a vast arsenal of missiles and rockets capable of striking virtually anywhere in Israel.

Israel’s actions in Jerusalem have come under growing international criticism.

The U.N. Security Council scheduled closed consultations on the situation Monday. The United States and European Union have expressed deep concern over the unrest in Jerusalem, urging Israel to calm the situation and not carry out the planned evictions. Arab allies of Israel, along with Turkey, also have condemned Israel’s actions.

Netanyahu pushed back against the criticism Monday, saying Israel is determined to ensure the rights of worship for all and that this “requires from time to time stand up and stand strong as Israeli police and our security forces are doing now.”

In the 1967 Mideast war in which Israel captured east Jerusalem, it also took the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It later annexed east Jerusalem and considers the entire city its capital. The Palestinians seek all three areas for a future state, with east Jerusalem as their capital.

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The fire started in the rear of a home Monday afternoon in the 11800 block of South Union Avenue.

A man was rescued by firefighters Monday afternoon as he hung from the window of a burning two-flat in the West Pullman neighborhood.

The “relatively small fire” started in the rear of a home about 1:20 p.m. in the 11800 block of South Union Avenue, Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said.

Crews entered the home and pulled the dangling man back inside the second-floor window, he said. The man was removed from the home and was underwent evaluation.

Around six people were displaced from the home, he said. There were no other injuries.

The fire was extinguished but its cause was not yet determined, Langford said.

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The deal would reunite Tebow and Jaguars coach Urban Meyer, under whom the former star quarterback won a Heisman Trophy in 2007 at Florida.

Tim Tebow looks to be getting his chance at an NFL comeback, after all.

The Jacksonville Jaguars plan to sign the former quarterback as a tight end, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported Monday, after Tebow worked out for the team in April.

A deal between the two sides was not complete and is not imminent, a person with knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY Sports’ Mike Jones. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because talks remained ongoing.

The signing serves as reunion between Tebow and Jaguars coach Urban Meyer, under whom the former star signal-caller won a Heisman Trophy in 2007 at Florida and led the Gators to a national championship in 2008. He also won a title with the Gators in 2006 as a backup.

“It’s very simple: If we believe that Tim Tebow can help us win a game, then we’d look into it,” Meyer told USA TODAY Sports’ Jarrett Bell last week. “And we’re not there yet. If it happens, that’s our decision behind it.”

Tebow, 33, has not taken a regular-season NFL snap since 2012, when he played sparingly for the New York Jets. After stints with the New England Patriots in 2013 and Philadelphia Eagles in 2015, he turned his focus to baseball. But after spending several years in the New York Mets’ minor league system, he retired from the sport in February.

As the Jaguars look to build around former Clemson quarterback and No. 1 overall draft pick Trevor Lawrence, tight end remains a spot at which the organization has devoted scant resources. Jacksonville selected 29-year-old Ohio State tight end Luke Farrell, another former Meyer pupil, in the fifth round of this year’s draft. James O’Shaughnessy returns as the leading pass-catching option at the position after recording 28 receptions for 262 receiving yards last season.

Yet it might be an uphill battle for Tebow to make it past training camp and onto the active roster.

“Obviously, when you start talking about a position he’s never played, or hasn’t played in a while, that’s pretty tough,” Meyer said. “So, we’re reviewing everything.”

Read more at usatoday.com

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