It took just days for decades-old tensions between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to spiral out of control, causing deaths and chaos in both Gaza and Israel.
As the escalating violence ignites riots in mixed Jewish-Arab towns in Israel and spurs wide unrest in the West Bank, what do both sides want to achieve in the worst flare-up of violence since 2014?
Analysts say that Hamas, which governs the impoverished and blockaded Gaza Strip, the crowded home to some two million Palestinians, aims to become the de facto standard bearer of the Palestinian cause, capitalising on the fading leadership of the Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank.
In a show of force, Hamas has unleashed some 2,300 rockets on Israel since Monday, reaching as far as Tel Aviv to the north, and Ramon airport to the south.
Israel meanwhile has seized the moment to try to wipe out once and for all Hamas's sway in the territory by attacking its very infrastructure, analysts say.
The explosion of unrest has centred around long-simmering Palestinian anger re-ignited by moves to evict four Palestinian families from their homes to give them to Jewish settlers.
More than 900 Palestinians were injured in the previous weekend's fury which erupted towards the end of the holy month of Ramadan, around the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina.
A teddy bear is removed from the debris after Israela airstrikes hit buildings in al-Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City on 16 May, 2021. Source: Anadolu via Getty Images
Amid the chaos, Hamas set an unrealistic ultimatum for all Israeli police to withdraw from the compound by 6pm last Monday evening.
Inevitably, the deadline was not met, and Hamas swiftly unleashed a volley of rockets into Israel drawing an almost immediate response and a relentless Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
'Harnessing' street anger
It is a "new strategy and tactic" by Hamas to seek to link "the issue of Jerusalem with the resistance in Gaza," said Jamal Al-Fadi, professor of political science in Gaza.
"This is a change to the rules of the game and the rules of engagement that serve the Palestinian situation," he added, warning it may prove a "costly" move.
Political researcher Leila Seurat, from the Brussels-based Observatory of the Arab and Muslim Worlds, agreed, saying Hamas was "clearly seeking to undermine" Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas "who is already very weakened" by "positioning itself as the safeguard of the Palestinians, and above all Jerusalem".
Mr Abbas abruptly postponed this month's Palestinian elections - the first in 15 years - even though Hamas and Mr Abbas's Fatah party had agreed on a roadmap for reconciliation to try to patch over deep divisions.
Setting no alternative date, Mr Abbas said the vote could not take place until Israel agreed that all Palestinian residents of east Jerusalem can vote.
Hamas, which had been hoping to seal its legitimacy at the ballot box, did not hide its anger.
But Hamas "does not control" the unrest on the city streets, even if they want to "harness it," said Ms Seurat.
Bibi's red line
Beleaguered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also seized the moment to make political capital, as he fights to retain the premiership following four inconclusive elections in the past two years.
Swiftly accusing Hamas of crossing "a red line", he ordered in the military for what has been dubbed Operation Guardian of the Walls and, this time, the Israeli army did not just reply with a few missiles.
Since Monday the military has pounded Gaza, and massed troops on the territory's border with Israel.
And the protection from the hail of Hamas rockets offered by Israel's Iron Dome system, which has been intercepting most of the missiles, is buying time for the Israeli military to pursue its goal. So far 197 people have been killed in Gaza and 10 have been killed in Israel.
A woman mourns for her relatives who were killed during an Israeli raid on Gaza City on 16 May, 2021. Source: Getty Images
"When the Palestinians get out of their shelters, they will find that many of the symbols of Hamas's control of the Gaza Strip will have been destroyed, from banks to the intelligence centre," said Mr Netanyahu's former national security adviser Yaakov Amidror.
"Everything that is symbolising Hamas as the government of the Gaza Strip" will be gone, he told AFP, as Israel seeks "to destroy their military capability and infrastructure, this is the name of game".
Engineers, experts in rocket production, computer intelligence specialists, and builders of mini-drones have all been targeted by the Israeli strikes.
"This will have a long term impact on the movement's ability to make weapons," an Israeli military source said.
The Israeli army said in a tweet Saturday that overnight strikes had hit a Hamas tunnel below a hotel that "was used to store weapons" as well as a "multi-barrelled rocket launcher".
Israeli air strikes over the weekend also hit the home of Yahya Sinwar, head of Hamas's political wing in Gaza, the army said, releasing footage of plumes of smoke and intense damage, but without saying if he was killed.
Israel is seeking to weaken Hamas and drive an even deeper wedge between the fractious Palestinian factions, said Gaza University political scientist, Naji Shurab.
But he warned "this is the most dangerous scenario" as it could cause the uprising to spread to the West Bank and "this will end the Palestinian Authority," deepening the uncertainty and helplessness of a new generation of Palestinians.
