Gaza City: At least 10 Palestinians were killed, most of them children, in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City early Saturday. This is the highest number of people who have died in an Israeli attack since Gaza started fighting with militant Hamas rulers. The conflict, which began with tension in Jerusalem last month, has spread on a large scale. Israeli cities with mixed populations of Arabs and Jews are witnessing daily violence.
Palestinians also staged widespread demonstrations in the West Bank during the ongoing fighting between Israel and Hamas, and hundreds of protesters clashed with Israeli forces in several cities. During this time, at least 11 people were killed in the action of the Israeli army. The violence occurs when Palestinians celebrate ‘Nakba Day’ on Saturday when they remember the thousands of Palestinians killed by Israel in the 1948 war. This has increased the possibility of further intensification of the conflict. Hadi Amr, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israel-Palestine Affairs, arrived in Israel on Friday as part of an effort to ease the conflict.
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council is expected to meet on Sunday. However, an Egyptian intelligence official said that Israel has turned down its offer of a one-year ceasefire, which Hamas accepted. Since Monday night, Hamas has fired hundreds of rockets at Israel. At least 126 people have died in Gaza, including 31 children and 20 women. Seven people have died in Israel, including a six-year-old child and a soldier. Rocket firing from Gaza and Israeli bombing of Palestinians continued in the early hours of Saturday.
At least eight children and two women were killed in an airstrike on a three-story house near a refugee camp in Gaza City. Mohammed Abu Hatab told reporters that his wife and five children went to celebrate Eid with relatives. His wife and three children aged between six and 14 years were killed, while an 11-year-old child is missing. Only five-month-old baby Omar is alive. Shortly thereafter, Hamas stated that it had launched several rockets in southern Israel in response to the airstrike.
The day before, Israel carried out an airstrike from the tank overnight, causing havoc in some cities, killing six people belonging to the same family, and leaving thousands of people fleeing their homes. The Israeli military said that 160 warplanes dropped 80 tons of explosives in 40 minutes in the operation and destroyed the tunnel of tunnels that Hamas used. Israeli media said the military believes dozens of militants were killed in the tunnels. Hamas and the Islamic Jihadist militant group have confirmed the deaths of 20 people, but the military says the actual number is much higher. Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated against the Gaza campaign in the West Bank and the Israeli crackdown in Jerusalem.
The protesters threw stones at Israeli soldiers waving Palestinian flags. Soldiers shot at least 10 protesters. Another Palestinian was killed in an attempt to stab a soldier. In an online video, a young Jewish citizen in East Jerusalem is seen firing from a pistol. The army opened fire on Israel’s northern border when a group of Lebanese and Palestinian protesters cut through the barbed wire at the border. During this time a Lebanese was killed. Israeli media reported that three rockets were fired from neighboring Syria by Israel but they either fell in Syrian territory or in empty areas. It is not yet known who fired the rocket.
Tensions in East Jerusalem began earlier this month when Palestinians demonstrated against the evictions at Sheikh Jarra and Israeli police cracked down at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The battle began on Monday when Hamas, claiming to have saved Jerusalem, began firing long-range rockets. Israel retaliated with several airstrikes. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas would “pay a heavy price” for these rocket attacks. Israel on Thursday asked 9,000 reserve soldiers to join forces on the Gaza border.
