Gaza in deadly escalation
HAMAS SAYS READY FOR TRUCE BUT ISRAELI REGIME SHOWS NO SIGNS OF BACKING DOWN
The Israeli regime’s Security Cabinet has ordered its military to continue strikes in Gaza “as is necessary”, signalling that the latest flare-up of violence may be far from over.
The armed wing of Hamas said it will step up attacks and fire rockets at the Israeli towns of Ashdod and Beersheba if Israel continues to carry out strikes in Gaza. But Hamas leader Esmail Haniyeh signalled a readiness to halt the latest round of fighting if Israel halts its air strikes. Smaller armed
groups, meanwhile announced a ceasefire in a joint statement.
At least six Palestinians were killed by the regime’s strikes on Gaza overnight. In Israel, a Palestinian labourer was killed by a rocket that was fired from Gaza. Bulldozers cleared rubble left behind by the bombings that flattened
multi-storey buildings in Gaza.
“What happened was like an earthquake,” said Abu Ayman Lemzeni, who lives near Hamas’s Al Aqsa TV building. “As you see, here there is no more the grocery, the pharmacy, the office, the wall, the building.”
The cross-border attacks were triggered by a botched Israeli regime undercover raid into Gaza late on Sunday, which left seven Palestinians and one occupation regime colonel dead.
Over the past few months, the Israeli regime and Hamas have come close to a major escalation several times, only to step back in favour of giving Egyptian mediation a chance.
The UN and Egypt have said they are trying to broker a ceasefire, but the ferocity of the latest Israeli escalation could make that difficult.
At least six Palestinians have been killed in the latest Israeli air strikes against dozens of sites across the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, Gaza fighters fired dozens of rockets at southern Israel early yesterday, killing a man — who turned out to be a Palestinian labourer — in a strike on a residential building. They warned they would escalate their attacks if Israel continued bombing targets in the Gaza Strip.
The United Nations said it was working with Egypt to broker an end to the latest round of fighting in Gaza.
The office of the UN’s Mideast envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, said on Monday efforts were underway “to ensure that Gaza steps back from the brink.”
It called for an end to rocket fire, and for restraint “by all.”
The cross-border attacks, which were triggered by a botched Israeli regime undercover raid into Gaza late on Sunday, marked the most serious escalation since Israel’s war on Gaza in 2014.
International mediators appealed for restraint, hoping to avert another Israeli war.
TV station destroyed
The Israeli occupation regime said some 400 rockets and mortars have been launched from Gaza since the current round began on Monday afternoon, with about 100 of them intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome defence system.
Israel has hit more than 100 targets in Gaza, including a strike that destroyed the TV station of Hamas. Palestinian officials said at least six people, including two fighters, have been killed. In Israel, at least 20 people have also been wounded, several seriously.
The armed wing of Hamas threatened to step up its attacks and fire rockets further north towards the Israeli cities of Ashdod and Beersheba if Israel continued its air strikes.
The spokesman for the Hamas military wing, identified only as Abu Obeida, said the deadly attack on the coastal city of Ashkelon showed the city “has entered the range of fire as a response to the bombing of buildings in Gaza.”
He said Ashdod and Beersheba “are the next targets if the enemy continues bombing civilian buildings.”
School has been cancelled in large parts of southern Israel and a local election has been postponed because of the threat of further attacks.
Over the past few months, the sides have come close to a major escalation several times, only to step back in favour of giving a chance to a long-term Egyptian mediated truce.
However, the current level of escalation and angry rhetoric, including Hamas’ warnings to strike deeper inside Israel, might make it more difficult to restore calm.
The Israeli security Cabinet began meeting to discuss the next steps, as the United Nations
appealed for calm.
The deadly rocket strike came before dawn in Ashkelon. The Magen David Adom medical service said a man in his 40s was found dead under the rubble of a building in Ashkelon.
The man was later identified as a man from Hebron, the West Bank’s largest Palestinian city.
Botched raid
The eruption of fighting cast doubt over recent understandings brokered by Egypt and UN officials to reduce tensions.
Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had defended those understandings, saying he was doing everything possible to avoid another war.
The rocket fire was triggered by a botched Israeli occupation regime raid in Gaza on Sunday. Undercover troops, apparently on a reconnaissance mission, were discovered inside Gaza, setting off a battle that left seven Palestinians, including a Hamas commander, and a senior Israeli regime military officer dead.
Hamas then fired a guided missile that struck a bus from which soldiers had just disembarked, marking an upgrade over its typical inaccurate projectiles. The strike set the bus on fire, sending a large plume of black smoke over the area. A 19-year-old soldier was critically wounded and rocket attacks and Israeli retaliation fire quickly ensued. The air strikes and rocket barrages resumed at dawn yesterday.