At least five Palestinian Authority Arabs were killed on Friday and Saturday in widespread protests and riots throughout Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, where a Jewish resident has been accused of killing one Arab near Shechem.

Unofficial military sources told The Jewish Press that Arabs near Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem, set fire to a guard tower. The soldiers fled for safety, and three of the rioters were killed.

IDF spokesmen said that Arabs opened live fire on soldiers and police in several protests Friday and Saturday, including the riot near Gush Etzion.

Muslim rioters also burned the Jerusalem police station near the Temple Mount in the Old City.

The Fatah movement, headed by Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas, joined Hamas on Friday to call for a “Day of Rage” following a 10,000-strong rally and ensuing riot Thursday night form near Ramallah to the Kalandiya crossing in northern Jerusalem.

Friday’s and Saturday’s protests were widespread but did not draw huge numbers. However, the use of live gunfire by protesters on Israeli security forces was rare and reminiscent of the 1990s when Palestinian Authority “police” used rifles given to them by the Israel government to maintain security and instead used them to stage terrorist attacks on Israeli soldiers, police and civilians.

Muslims are celebrating the end of Ramadan, the holy month that ends with a three-day feast concluding on Sunday, and police are on high alert to prevent large-scale riots.

Thousands of leftists Israelis, Arabs and Jews, protested against the IDF’s war on terror Saturday night in Tel Aviv.

Hamas terrorists unleashed a fierce missile barrage on central and southern Israel at midday Monday, but the hand of God nevertheless intervened to protect Israelis from physical harm.

No physical injuries were reported but at least one home was damaged in the attack in Ashdod where an open miracle occurred. An M75 missile slammed into a home, crashing through the ceiling and landing on the floor of a balcony (see photo, courtesy of ashdod.net) — but it did not explode, greatly limiting the damage to the home. Family members remained safe in the apartment’s internal bomb shelter room, meanwhile; although they were traumatized by the incident, they were physically unharmed.

Despite the terrorists’ efforts to remind the IDF that Gaza’s ability to wage war has yet to be impaired, the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system intercepted two M75 missiles over metro Tel Aviv and two others over the port city of Ashdod. The attack sent more than one million Israelis racing for bomb shelters across the southern and central regions. Heavy barrages were aimed at greater Ashkelon, Rehovot, Ashdod, the Gush Dan region including metro Tel Aviv, Bnei Brak and Ramat Gan, Rishon Lezion and Beit Shemesh, among other major population centers.

Barrages continued through the afternoon. A missile exploded in an open area on the outskirts of Rishon Lezion shortly before 1:00pm, igniting a fire but physically hurting no one. Three missiles intercepted over the coastal city of Ashkelon at approximately 1:30 pm. Five minutes later, three shorter-range Qassam rockets exploded in open areas in the Sdot Negev Regional Council district. No property damage was reported, and no one was physically injured.

On every radio talk show program, Israelis called in to express their firm resolve to endure, to get through the war and wait it out in their bomb shelters for however long it might take, as long as the IDF continued to persevere in its goal to “silence the rocket fire permanently this time and eliminate the tunnels.”

Meanwhile, outgoing President Shimon Peres told reporters Monday morning that it is essential that Israel continue Operation Protective Edge until the conflict is decisively won.

“We must win this war,” Peres said. “Hamas planned a massacre in Israel.”

The president’s remarks came in the wake of a foiled infiltration early Monday morning in which two massive squads of terrorists were spotted emerging from two separate tunnels between two kibbutzim along the Gaza border.

Residents in Nir Am and Erez were quickly ordered to remain in their homes and lock their doors, as Israeli air force pilots targeted one terror cell, and ground forces engaged the other. All of the terrorists were eliminated in the fierce fire fight that followed.

Hamas terrorists fired a fresh barrage of missiles late Monday afternoon while an attack from Syria hit the Golan Heights.

The attacks began with a barrage fired at metropolitan Tel Aviv in the central Dan region, followed five minutes later by another at metro Be’er Sheva in the Negev. Barely a minute later, missile fire from Syria was aimed at the Ramat HaGolan.

Hundreds of thousands of residents went racing for shelter in the suburbs of Ramat Gan, Bnei Brak, Givat Shmuel, Petach Tikvah, Givatayim, and as far north as the city of Herzliya.

At least four missiles landed in open areas in the Gush Dan region, where the ‘city that never sleeps’ is located – but no specific location has yet been released.

One of the missiles was intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system, indicating it was headed directly for a populated area.

Barely five minutes later, Arab, Druze and Jewish residents of Israel’s Negev region were running for shelter.

The sound of the Color Red incoming rocket alert siren sent Druze residents of the village of Majdal Shams racing for cover, while their neighbors just a few kilometers down the road did the same in Jewish communities around the Golan Heights.

At least one rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system over Be’er Sheva, and two others exploded in open areas on the outside of the city.

In the Golan Heights, at least one missile exploded in an open area near a kibbutz. No one was physically injured, but a fire broke out in the field.

Hamas has claimed responsibility for the attacks in the metro Tel Aviv area, but at present it appears the missile fire aimed at the Golan Heights emanated from across the northern border in Syria. As with the missile fire originating from Lebanon, the attack raises the spectre of an additional front in the current conflict.

The Israeli Air Force has escalated an all-out war against the Hamas terrorist regime in Gaza while making mincemeat of Hamas attempts to kill civilians in Tel Aviv.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and IDF officers made it clear Friday and Saturday that the days of repetitive “cease fires” with Hamas and that years of agreeing to allow Hamas to attack, and then stop to re-arm, are history.

Hamas put on a fabulous propaganda show for Gaza residents Saturday night, boldly announcing more than an hour ahead of time that it would pulverize metropolitan Tel Aviv with rockets at 9 p.m. Israeli time.

Sure enough, it carried out its promise, but the results were pitiful as the Iron Dome system intercepted most of the missiles, leaving only minimal damage. Shrapnel from one rocket in the city of Rehovot, south of Tel Aviv, caused light injuries to one man.

Hamas celebrated as if it had won the war and even told its residents that at least one of those nasty Zionists was killed, leaving only 6,999,999 Jews to finish off before it could declare peace.

Two deaths due to heart attacks after sirens blared were reported in Haifa on Friday and Jerusalem on Shabbat, where an elderly American tourist in Jerusalem succumbed to heart failure while sirens wailed in the capital.

Shortly after the missile barrage on Tel Aviv, the Israeli Air Force bombed dozens of terrorist targets in Gaza, including the home of the chief of Hamas police.

Up to 15 people were killed in the attack, and even if the Arab figures are exaggerated, the strike undoubtedly leveled a significant hole in the Hamas terrorist regime.

Another dead terrorist was a man who launched rockets and also was a nephew of Ismail Haniyeh, who was de facto prime minister of Gaza until the new Palestinian Authority unity government disguised his power with the creation of a puppet ”technocratic” government to satisfy naïve international experts, not the least of which is  the Obama administration, that there suddenly is a terror-free regime in Ramallah.

Around midnight Saturday, the IDF warned residents in northern Gaza to leave their homes. The area is a magnet for terrorists because of its proximity to Israel. The Air Force apparently is trying to push rocket-launcher terrorists as far south as possible, possibly allowing for ground forces to move in and keep the area clean of terrorists.

“In the next few hours, in light of the fact Hamas is hiding behind civilians, we will change patterns of action and start evacuating Palestinian civilians in the northern Gaza Strip, where long-range rockets are fired from,” a senior IDF official told Ynet. “Following the evacuation, there will be a significant attack there. The objectives for this operation are to deal a significant blow to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, decrease the fire on civilians and strengthen the deterrence.”

Hamas fired approximately 50 rockets and missiles on Israel Saturday, setting off sirens in almost every section of the country south of Haifa, even in the Dead Sea area. The Iron Dome continued to prove effective and knocked out one missile that threatened the Modi’in-Ben Gurion Airport area.

Northern Israel heard sirens because of a volley of missiles from Lebanon, causing damage to an agriculture building. Pro-Palestinian Authority elements, and not Hezbollah,  were behind the attacks. The Lebanese army, which is barely distinguishable from Hezbollah, arrested at least one of those who fired the rockets, indicating that it does not want a confrontation with Israel at this time.

Sirens also sounded in the southern Hebron Hills, and at least two of Hamas’ missiles exploded in Arab areas in Hebron and Bethlehem, causing minor injuries and damage.

Public Security Minister Yitzchak Aharonovitch told journalists at a briefing in Ashdod Friday morning the IDF is preparing plans for the option of a ground invasion into Gaza after further military escalations by Hamas.

The statement came following a missile attack that scored a direct hit on a gas station in the Mediterranean port city earlier on, striking a fuel truck. The resulting explosion left one man critically wounded and two others moderately to lightly injured.

“This is a complex conflict and we are hitting them hard,” Aharonovitch said. “We are preparing for the option of a ground incursion,” he warned. “Everyone should follow the instructions of the Home Front Command.”

Late Thursday Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ended a marathon security cabinet meeting with the announcement that Operation Protective Edge is proceeding as planned. “More stages are coming,” he promised, without revealing what those might be, or when they would be carried out.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz likewise were mum on the subject, backing the prime minister in reassuring Israelis that everything was going according to plan — but revealing little else.

In Tel Aviv, three M75 missiles were shot down directly over the metropolitan area by the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system, the shrapnel from the interception dropping directly on to the city from the skies.

Israeli police patrolled the streets of Tel Aviv in an effort to keep curious residents from touching the sharp metal, some of which may have had chemical agents sprayed on to it.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said officers remained on site to prevent residents from hurting themselves.

No injuries were reported in the attack itself.

In Jerusalem, police blocked entry for Friday prayers at the Temple Mount in the Old City for all Muslims other than women of any age, and males age 50 and older who were carrying Israeli identity cards.

Security forces remained on alert at the site and prepared to deal with any outbreaks of violence, which often take place due to incitement during sermons in the mosque at Friday prayers. Friday is the Islamic Sabbath.

Nearly a million Israelis were sent scrambling mid-morning Friday as Gaza terrorists fired three M75 missiles at central Israel.

All three missiles were intercepted over the metropolitan Tel Aviv area by the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system — at a cost of $50,000 per interceptor missile.

Tel Aviv residents began their morning on Thursday with the wail of the Color Red incoming rocket alert siren followed by the boom of the Iron Dome anti-missile system smashing a missilesheading straight for the city.

Large pieces of shrapnel landed in the streets of a neighborhood in southern Tel Aviv. Miraculously, no physical injuries were reported. Falling shrapnel can be extremely dangerous; residents were cautioned to remain in their shelters and safe spaces until given the “all clear” by security officials or Home Front Command — or until 10 minutes of silence has passed.

Barely two hours later, at 11:25 a.m. they were doing it again, with sirens sending hundreds of thousands of residents in Tel Aviv and Yafo (Jaffa) scrambling for cover.

Two missiles were fired at the White City but both landed in open areas in the greater metropolitan area. No physical injuries were reported. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and other top officials were in the city consulting on the security situation at the time and they, too, headed straight for the shelter the second the Color Red siren was activated.

Gaza terrorists also fired M75 missile attacks at the eastern Negev cities of Dimona, Yerucham and Mitzpe Ramon, as Hamas searches desperately for a “quality” strike on a significant target. Dimona presents such a possibility; the city is home to Israel’s nuclear plant. At least one missile landed in an open area on the outskirts of the city; no physical injuries were reported. Hamas fired a barrage of three missiles at Dimona on Wednesday night as well. One of the missiles was shot down by the Iron Dome system, and two others landed in open areas, causing no physical injuries or damage.

In general, it’s been a busy morning as the Iron Dome system and its operators pick and choose which rockets and missiles must be eliminated from the skies.

A short-range rocket was shot down as it headed for the western Negev city of Netivot at around 10 am. Two other rockets landed in open areas, but not entirely without cost: the explosion ignited a fire, which required firefighters to risk their lives in coming out to extinguish the blaze as other rockets were exploding. Gaza terrorists fired a barrage of rockets and missiles towards the Negev that reached as far as 84 kilometers (52 miles) from Israel’s border with the region. Meanwhile, the IDF targeted a Hamas terrorist in northern Gaza has he was firing rockets at Israel. A direct hit was confirmed. Several hours earlier, the IDF also eliminated three Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists in northern Gaza who were manufacturing medium-range missiles. Out of the PIJ’s approximate arsenal of some 5,500 rockets and missiles, more than 100 have an 80+ kilometer(50 mile) range.