GAZA ‘FACING ALL-OUT WAR’
UN warning as Israel and Palestinians vow to ramp up fighting
PALESTINIAN militants have stockpiled enough missiles to continue bombing Israel for the next two months, security experts have warned, as escalating fighting led the UN to warn of ‘all-out war’.
Boris Johnson led international leaders in calling for the two sides to step back from the brink yesterday.
However, the pleas for calm appeared in vain as Israeli and Palestinian leaders traded bloodcurdling threats and further rocket strikes.
And after a senior Hamas commander was killed yesterday, the Islamist militant group responded with a barrage of rockets into southern Israel which rescue workers said killed a six-year-old boy.
Israel’s defence minister Benny Gantz vowed more attacks on Gaza to bring ‘total, longterm quiet’ before they would consider truce talks after six days of violence.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his military would use ‘increasing force’ in the conflict. ‘We eliminated senior Hamas commanders and this is just the beginning,’ he said. ‘We
‘If Israel wants to escalate, we are ready’
will inflict blows on them that they couldn’t even dream of.’ The leader of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh hit back, vowing that ‘if Israel wants to escalate, we are ready for it’.
Yesterday Mr Johnson tweeted a plea for both sides to ‘step back from the brink’ and ‘show restraint’. He added: ‘The UK is deeply concerned by the growing violence and civilian casualties and we want to see an urgent deescalation of tensions.’
His calls were backed up by similar messages from the EU, the US, Russia and Turkey.
The UN’s Middle East peace envoy Tor Wennesland warned the latest violence was ‘escalating towards a full-scale war’. And UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said he was ‘gravely concerned’.
Israel last night said around 1,500 rockets had been fired from Gaza into Israeli cities since Monday evening. Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said: ‘We’ve seen a constant expansion in terms of range and also in terms of the size of the warheads. They have an advanced arsenal of rockets, I think it’s on a par with the fire capabilities of a few small European countries.’
The rate of fire suggests the militant groups can keep the bombardment going for two months. While Israel’s Iron Dome aerial defence system has intercepted nine out of ten Palestinian rockets, the remainder have killed at least seven civilians and injured more than 90. Families in Tel Aviv spent most of yesterday taking cover in underground shelters.
Israel’s retaliation has included hundreds of air strikes on Gaza, led by F-35 stealth bombers and Apache attack helicopters. At least 65 people have been killed in Gaza, including 16 children since fighting broke out on Monday.
The heaviest offensive between Israel and Hamas since a 2014 war in the Hamas-ruled enclave has increased concern that the situation could spiral out of control. ‘Israel has gone crazy,’ said a man on a Gaza street, where people fled their homes after explosions.
Unrest has been growing in Israel and Gaza following violent confrontations between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters in Jerusalem and a long-running dispute over the eviction of Palestinian families from East Jerusalem in favour of Jewish settlers.
The UN Security Council held another emergency meeting without agreeing on a joint statement due to opposition from the United States, Israel’s ally.
Mr Netanyahu spoke to President Joe Biden, who expressed hope that the violence would end ‘sooner than later’ but said ‘Israel has a right to defend itself’.