Israel targets Hamas in new air strikes on Gaza Strip as conflict escalates

Israel has unleashed new air strikes on Gaza, hitting two high-rise buildings believed to be housing militants. Hamas and other armed groups bombarded southern Israel with hundreds of rockets.

The conflict escalated relentlessly throughout the day, and Israel vowed its strikes would only increase.

The latest exchange of fire was sparked by weeks of tensions in contested Jerusalem.

Since sundown on Monday, 26 Palestinians – including nine children and a woman – were killed in Gaza, most by air strikes, Gaza health officials said.

The Israeli military said at least 16 of the dead were militants.

During the same period, Gaza militants fired hundreds of rockets towards Israel, killing two

Israeli civilians wounding 10 others.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that more was coming.

He said after meeting with senior defence officials that Israel would “increase even more the strength of the strikes and also the rate of the strikes” against Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants in the Gaza Strip.

“Hamas will receive blows now that it didn’t expect,” he said in a statement. In a further sign of rising tensions, Israel signalled it is widening its military campaign.

The current violence, like previous rounds, including the last intifada, or uprising, has been fuelled by conflicting claims over Jerusalem, which is at the emotional core of the sides’ long conflict. and

PROTEST: Hundreds of Palestinians came together to demonstrate against the Israeli offensive.