LAHORE MIRROR (Monitoring Desk)– Israel pounded Gaza, destroying a tower block that housed media organisations and which it said had militant assets, while Palestinian rocket salvoes hit Tel Aviv on Saturday, with no sign of an end to almost a week of fighting.
The death toll is rising from the worst escalation since 2014 and diplomacy has so far failed to quell it.
Israel’s military brought down a 12-storey block in Gaza City that housed the U.S. Associated Press and Qatar-based Al Jazeera media operations, as well as other offices and apartments, leaving a huge heap of broken masonry.
Israel gave advance warning of the strike so it could be evacuated and said later the building contained military assets of Hamas, the Islamist group that runs Gaza.
The AP and Al Jazeera strongly condemned the attack.
Palestinians say at least 139 people, including 39 children, have been killed in Gaza since the conflict erupted on Monday.
In Tel Aviv, residents fled for cover amid wailing sirens as Hamas militants fired barrages of rockets. One hit a residential block in the Ramat Gan suburb, killing a 50-year old man, medics said.
The group said the salvoes responded to overnight strikes on Gaza’s Beach refugee camp, where a woman and four of her children were killed when her house was hit. Five others died, medics said. Israel said it targeted an apartment used by Hamas.
Hamas began its assault on Monday after tensions over a court case to evict several Palestinian families in East Jerusalem and in retaliation for Israeli police clashes with Palestinians near the city’s al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site.
Akram Farouq, 36, dashed out of his home overnight with his family after a neighbour told him they had received a call from an Israeli officer saying their building would be hit – a familiar pattern for attacks on what Israel deems military sites.
Palestinians stand near damaged cars in the aftermath of Israeli air strikes, amid a flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian violence, in Gaza City May 15, 2021. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
Living conditions for Gaza’s 2 million people are worsening, with households receiving just four hours a day of power instead of the usual 12, Palestinian officials said.
“We want to live in peace and quiet,” the 36-year-old said, adding he had to try to explain to his three young children “what happened, and why this is happening”.
PROTESTS
Regional and international diplomatic efforts have yet to show any signs of halting hostilities.
Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza and has led regional diplomatic efforts, has been pushing for a ceasefire so talks could start, two Egyptian security sources said on Friday.
There have been protests in support of Palestinians in the Middle East, Europe and Australia. In France, police used tear gas and water canon to disperse demonstrators who defied a ban in Paris on Saturday, but authorised protests were held elsewhere. Hundreds turned out in Madrid.
In Israel, the conflict has been accompanied by violence among the country’s mixed communities of Jews and Arabs. Synagogues have been attacked, Arab-owned shops vandalised and street fights have broken out. Israel’s president, who has a largely ceremonial role, has warned of civil war.
Medics reported 29 Palestinians injured, 17 of them by live fire. Medics previously reported 11 people killed on Friday in the West Bank.
The conflict adds complexity to Israel’s fractious politics. It has dealt a blow to opposition attempts to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when a potential right-wing partner scrapped coalition talks after violence erupted. This may mean Israelis face a fifth election in just over two years.
Israel said on Saturday about 2,300 rockets had been fired from Gaza at Israel since Monday, with about 1,000 intercepted by missile defences and 380 falling into the Gaza Strip.
SOURCE: REUTERS
