Impact from missile debris in Jerusalem's Old City

A blast left a crater in a hillside just inside Jerusalem's Old City on Friday, spraying debris across a road, after a warning of incoming missiles fired from Iran.

AFP journalists at the scene saw the damage just a few hundred meters from Jerusalem's revered holy sites of Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Western Wall, and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Police cordoned off the site in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City shortly after several loud blasts had rocked the center of Jerusalem.

"We heard a huge boom and debris was thrown about 15 meters," Schimon Elkayam, 44, told AFP, holding fragments of stone in his hands.

The Israeli military wrote on X that "the Old City in Jerusalem, right near the Temple Mount, was impacted by Iranian missile fragments."

Israeli Old City police commander Dvir Tamim said the blast was caused by a "missile impact and not interceptor fragments."

He said a bomb squad was checking to verify "what kind of missile" it was.

A later statement from the Israeli police said that the "warhead that fell... contained dozens of kilogrammes of explosives."

AFP could not independently verify whether it was a direct hit by a missile or fragments that fell after an interception.

Israel's foreign ministry accused Iran of an "attack on the holy sites" of Jerusalem.

"The Iranian attack on the holy sites sacred to all three religions reveals the madness of the Iranian regime, which claims to be religious," Israel's foreign ministry wrote on X, calling it an "Iranian gift" for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

A resident in a nearby district told AFP that they saw an object falling straight from the sky before hearing a loud bang and seeing white smoke rise into the air.

Israeli police said in a statement that one person was evacuated after receiving minor injuries in the blast.

Local resident Devorah Abramson, 48, told AFP that the blast "blew pieces of debris" across a nearby football pitch where her son often plays with his friends.

"So it's scary," she said.

The damage in the Old City comes after Israeli police said this week that shrapnel had fallen in the area following another Iranian missile attack.

Iran has been firing missiles at Israel in response to the bombing campaign launched by Israel and the United States on Feb. 28.

Air raid sirens sounded repeatedly in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Friday.

At least two people were injured near Tel Aviv, according to the emergency services, while media broadcast footage of a residential building ablaze in a nearby town.