Israel pounds Gaza as conflict intensifies
Palestinian toll crosses 100 as Israel rules out ground incursion; Jews, Arabs engage in deadly clashes
Jerusalem, May 14: Israel bombarded Gaza with artillery and air strikes on Friday in response to a new barrage of rocket fire from the Hamas-run enclave, in an intensification of a conflict that has now claimed more than 100 Palestinian lives.
Days of deadly violence have seen Israeli soldiers massing on the edge of the territory, although the army stressed there had been no ground incursion despite an earlier statement that troops were carrying out an attack “in the Gaza Strip.”
Israeli security forces have also been scrambled to contain deadly riots between Jews and Arabs, and projectiles have been fired from Lebanon.
Images on early Friday showed large balls of flame turning the night sky orange in densely packed Gaza, while rockets were seen tracing through the air towards Israel.
The United Nations said that the Security Council would meet on Sunday to address the conflict as the world body’s Secretary General called for “an immediate de-escalation and cessation of hostilities”.
“Too many innocent civilians have already died,” Antonio Guterres tweeted. “This conflict can only increase radicalization and extremism in the whole region.” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington was “deeply concerned about the violence in the streets of Israel”, and the State Department urged citizens to “reconsider travel to Israel”.
Several international airlines — including KLM, British Airways, Virgin, Lufthansa and Iberia — cancelled flights amid the aerial onslaught.
Dozens of rockets were fired from Gaza towards the southern Israeli coastal cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon, and in the vicinity of Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport.
Israeli army spokesman John Conricus said the country was “prepared...for various scenarios”, describing a ground offensive as “one scenario”.
In Gaza, photographers said that people were evacuating their homes in the northeastern part of the enclave ahead of possible Israeli attacks, with Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza,
warning response” incursion.
The Israeli army clarified early on Friday that its troops had not entered the Gaza Strip as it had earlier indicated, blaming an “internal communication” problem for the confusion.
With the conflict showing no signs of easing, Israel has been rocked by an unprecedented wave of mob violence, in which both Arabs and Jews have been savagely beaten and police stations attacked.
Defence Minister Benny Gantz ordered a “massive reinforcement” to suppress the internal unrest.
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