A fragment of an intercepted Iranian missile fell in several areas of Jerusalem on Monday, including on a rooftop near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City, Israel said.
Shrapnel from ballistic missiles fired by Iran and debris from the Israeli interceptors that shot them down fell on Monday around Jerusalem’s walled Old City and some of its most sacred Christian, Muslim and Jewish sites, Israeli police said.
According to Reuters, there were no casualties or major damage reported at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre or the nearby hilltop plateau known to Muslims as Al-Aqsa compound and to Jews as Temple Mount, a flashpoint site that is holy to both faiths.
Photos distributed by police showed three officers carrying what appeared to be a large metal ring-shaped part of a missile off a red-tiled roof adjacent to the Holy Sepulchre, the traditional site of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial and a popular pilgrimage site.
Another image showed a police cordon around a small area in the Al-Aqsa compound plaza which also houses the golden Dome of the Rock, with small fragments strewn on the floor.
“Jerusalem District police, bomb disposal teams, and Border Police units have secured the sites and are currently working to eliminate any remaining risk to the public,” police said in a statement.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Tuesday that he spoke with Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem about the incident, saying that Iran deliberately strikes political targets and religious sites belonging to Jews, Christians and Muslims.
PS Don’t tell me the war will continue until the Greek Orthodox Easter on April 12, the Holy Fire will not be lit in the church of Sepulchre, the Greek state will not be able to send an airplane to bring it to Greece and the tradition celebrating Jesus Resurrection with candles carrying the Holy Fire will be cancelled thus traumatizing forever millions of Greeks.
The lunatics running Israel will not stop until the entire Middle East, including much of Israel, is razed to the ground. — as they have done to Gaza.