Israeli shekel fell 1.4% against the U.S. dollar as air defense systems fail to prevent the increasing number of missiles fired in retaliation to Israeli airstrikes targeting civilian areas in occupied Palestine.
The exchange rate of the Israeli shekel in evening trading was 3.29 against the dollar, down from 3.252 at the beginning of trading in the morning, the lowest seen against the dollar in four weeks.
Israel's Iron Dome air defense system has been struggling as most of the rockets have been falling unintercepted amid an increasing number of clashing missiles.
Israel has suspended civil aviation flights due to intense rocket attacks from Gaza, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported late Tuesday.
Tensions have been running high in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem since last week, after an Israeli court ordered the eviction of Palestinian families. Palestinians protesting in solidarity with residents of Sheikh Jarrah have been targeted by Israeli forces.The number of Palestinians killed in the air campaign carried out by Israeli forces targeting besieged Gaza Strip increased to 30 late Tuesday with over 200 wounded, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Meanwhile, the number of Israelis wounded by rockets rose to 26. Two Israeli women were also killed by rockets fired from Gaza in response to recent Israeli aggression in the heavily-targeted coastal city of Ashkelon, just north of Gaza, said the emergency service Magen David Adom. The local Barzilai medical center said currently 70 injured in the attacks were under treatment at the facility.
Hamas' Qassem Brigades had vowed to turn the town "to hell" and rained down an intense volley, claiming to have fired 137 rockets toward Ashkelon and nearby Ashdod within just five minutes. Loud booms again rocked the town on Tuesday, where a rocket had ripped a gaping hole into the side of an apartment block, an Agence France-Presse (AFP) reporter said.
Tensions in Jerusalem have flared into the city's worst disturbances since 2017 in the days since Israeli riot police attacked large crowds of Palestinians on the last Friday of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.
Nightly unrest since then at the Al-Aqsa compound in occupied East Jerusalem has left more than 700 Palestinians wounded, drawing international calls for de-escalation and sharp rebukes from across the Muslim world.