Media questions Israel over attacks
Prime Minister says country wants to levy a heavy price on the militant Hamas rulers of Gaza City
City, May 16: Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flattened three buildings and killed at least 42 people Sunday, medics said, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signalled the fourth war between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza would rage on despite international efforts to broker a cease-fire. In a televised address, Netanyahu said Sunday evening the attacks were continuing at “fullforce” and will “take time”. Israel “wants to levy a heavy price” from Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers, he said, flanked by his defence minister and political rival, Benny Gantz, in a show of unity.
The Israeli air assault early Sunday was the deadliest single attack since heavy fighting broke out between Israel and Hamas nearly a week ago, marking the worst fighting here since the devastating 2014 war in Gaza. The airstrikes hit a major downtown street of residential buildings and storefronts over the course of five minutes after midnight, destroying two adjacent buildings and one about
50 yards (metres) down the road. At one point, a rescuer shouted, “Can you hear me?” into a hole in the rubble. “Are you OK?” Minutes later, first responders pulled a survivor out and carried him off on an orange stretcher.
The Gaza Health Ministry said 16 women and
10 children were among those killed, with more than 50 people wounded, and rescue efforts are still underway. Earlier, the Israeli military said it destroyed the home of Gaza’s top Hamas leader, Yahiyeh Sinwar, in a separate strike in the southern town of Khan Younis. It was the third such attack in the last two days on the homes of senior Hamas leaders, who have gone underground. Israel appears to have stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as international mediators work to end the fighting and stave off an Israeli ground invasion of the territory.