Israel's president has warned of a civil war between the Arabs and Jews as the country descends into chaos with hundreds of protesters taking to the streets, hundreds injured and 65 dead as airstrikes fly across the sky into the Gaza Strip.
Tensions had been building for weeks in Israel, but recently escalated over a court ruling that could end with Palestinian families evicted from East Jerusalem homes claimed by Jewish settlers.
Israel carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Gaza targetting the homes and offices of Islamist group Hamas, which has, along with other Palestinian militants, fired multiple rocket barrages at Tel Aviv and Beersheba.
Airstrikes have hit apartment buildings, including a 13-storey residential block in the Gaza Strip used by the political leadership of Hamas, which collapsed on Tuesday night after being hit.
"Israel has gone crazy," said a man on a Gaza street, where people ran out of their homes as explosions rocked buildings.
Now people have descended on to the streets of Israel, destroying buildings and cars.
A synagogue and cars were torched in the Tel Aviv suburb of Lod, motorists were stoned on some roads, and Palestinian flag-waving protesters scuffled with police in northern Haifa port.
The Jerusalem Post reported some 374 people were arrested throughout Israel following the violence and riots.
At least 65 people have been killed in Gaza since violence escalated on Monday, according to the enclave's health ministry. Six people have been killed in Israel, medical officials said.
Hundreds of other people have been injured in the conflict.
The Guardian reported the conflict is the most serious between Israel and the Palestinians for nine years, and has prompted international concern the situation could spiral out of control.
The United Nations has warned the conflict could turn into "full-scale war".
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called the situation "harrowing".
US President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday and conveyed his unwavering support for Israel's right to defend itself.
He "condemned the rocket attacks by Hamas and other terrorist groups, including against Jerusalem and Tel Aviv" and encouraged "restoring a sustainable calm", the White House said.
The United States has dispatched an envoy to try to calm the most intense hostilities in years.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is also concerned about the escalating violence and the possibility war crimes are being committed, its prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said on Wednesday.
"I note with great concern the escalation of violence in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as well as in and around Gaza, and the possible commission of crimes under the Rome Statute", Bensouda wrote on Twitter.
Reuters/Newshub
