Israel kills pregnant Palestinian woman and her infant daughter
Flare-up comes as Egypt is trying to broker a truce between the two sides
Israeli warplanes struck dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip and three people were reported killed there yesterday morning.
At least three Palestinians died — a pregnant woman, her one-year-old daughter and a Hamas militant, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
On the Israeli side, at least seven people were wounded after Palestinian militants fired scores of rockets into Israel in retaliation. The flareup comes as Egypt is trying to broker a long-term ceasefire between the two sides.
Nickolay Mladenov, the UN special envoy who is involved in Egyptian efforts to broker a truce, said in a statement yesterday that he’s “deeply alarmed” by “multiple rockets fired toward communities in southern Israel”.
It was not clear if the escalation, the latest in a series of intense exchanges of fire in recent months, would derail the indirect negotiations between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers.
Air raid sirens signalling incoming rocket fire continued in southern Israel yesterday morning, raising the likelihood of further Israeli reprisals. Israel has launched three brutal assaults on Gaza since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007.
Despite the animosity, the bitter enemies appear to be working through Egyptian mediators to avoid another war.
Blockade
Hamas is demanding the lifting of an Israeli-Egyptian border blockade that has devastated Gaza’s economy.
But the continued outbursts of fire have jeopardised those ceasefire efforts.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military struck a Hamas military post in Gaza after it said militants fired on Israeli troops on the border.
Hamas said two of its fighters were killed after taking part in a gunfire parade inside a militant camp.
The incident occurred while a group of senior Hamas leaders from abroad were visiting Gaza to discuss the ceasefire efforts with local leaders.
A top Hamas official told AP that the group waited for the delegation to leave Gaza before responding with rocket fire late Wednesday.
The Israeli occupation military said over 150 rockets and mortars were fired at Israel, and Israel carried out over 140 air strikes targeting Hamas militant positions.
Gaza’s Health Ministry identified those killed in the air strikes from Wednesday to Thursday as Hamas fighter Ali Ghandour, 23-year-old Enas Khamash and her daughter Bayan.
The ministry said the militant and the civilians were killed in separate incidents.
Meanwhile, a Hamas official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was discussing classified negotiations, said that ceasefire talks were in their final stage but that disagreements remained.
He said Hamas is demanding the complete lifting of the Israeli-Egyptian blockade, while Israel has offered only to ease the restrictions.