Israel today reinforced its troops near its borders with Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, as violence escalated and threatened to spiral out of control following Israeli police raids on the al-Aqsa mosque compound in East Jerusalem.

But despite rockets fired from Gaza and Lebanon at northern and southern Israel and Israeli airstrikes against those areas, there have been no casualties on either side.

“Nobody wants an escalation now,” an Israeli military spokesman told reporters. “Calm will be met with calm at this stage, I believe at least for the next few hours.”

Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the army’s top spokesman, said, however, that additional infantry and artillery forces had been sent to Israel’s northern and southern borders to bolster defenses for any “possible scenario”.

Just before noon today, Israel’s military announced that those living near the Gaza border no longer need to be near the shelters.

Meanwhile the streets of the Palestinian enclave were almost empty, with the exception of a few taxis and some emergency services vehicles.

In the Tufa neighborhood of Gaza City, where Palestinian officials said an Israeli rocket landed in a field, some houses and a children’s hospital were damaged.

29-year-old taxi driver Ali Mohammad said he hopes this round of clashes is over. “Who wants war? None, but we also cannot tolerate these violent attacks against worshipers at al-Aqsa,” he commented.