GAZA POUNDED, PROTESTS RAGE Crisis is of ‘grave concern’: Biden tells Netanyahu
Israeli forces carry out fresh airstrikes in Gaza, claiming to have targeted the home of a prominent Hamas leader
Israeli strikes destroyed the home of Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip and killed at 33 Palestinians on Sunday, as the United Nations Security Council prepared to meet amid global alarm at the escalating conflict.
The heaviest fighting since 2014, sparked by unrest in Jerusalem, saw the rivals again trade heavy fire, with the death toll rising to nearly 190 in the crowded coastal enclave of Gaza and to 10 in Israel since Monday, according to authorities on either side.
Israel said on Sunday its “continuing wave of strikes” had in the past 24 hours struck over 90 targets across Gaza, where the destruction of a building housing news media organisations sparked international outcry.
In Gaza, emergency teams worked to pull out bodies from vast piles of smoking rubble and toppled buildings, as relatives wailed in horror and grief.
‘Dismayed, disturbed’
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres was “dismayed” by civilian casualties in Gaza and “deeply disturbed” by Israel’s strike on Saturday on the tower housing the Associated Press and Al Jazeera bureaus, a spokesperson said.
Israel’s army said on Sunday that about 3,000 rockets had been fired from the coastal strip controlled by Hamas towards Israel, “of which approximately 450 failed launches fell in the Gaza Strip”.
Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system had intercepted over a thousand rockets in almost a week during which Israeli residential buildings have been hit, with over 500 people wounded.
The bloodiest military conflict in seven years has also sparked a wave of inter-communal violence and mob attacks between Jews and Arab-israelis, as well as deadly clashes in the occupied West Bank, where 19 Palestinians have been killed since last Monday.
Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad targeted: IDF
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had targeted the infrastructure of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, including by pounding a vast tunnel system with some 100 strikes, and by targeting weapon factories and storage sites.
Israeli airstrikes also hit the home of Yahya Sinwar, head of Hamas’ political wing in the Gaza Strip, the army said, releasing a video showing plumes of smoke and intense damage, but without saying if he was killed.
At least 52 children have lost their lives in Gaza, 1,225 people have been reported wounded and entire buildings and city blocks reduced to rubble.
The IDF says it takes all possible precautions to avoid harming civilians and has blamed Hamas for deliberately placing military targets in densely populated areas. One strike on Gaza killed 10 members of an extended family. The children “didn’t carry weapons, they didn’t fire rockets”, said Mohammad al-hadidi, one of the grieving fathers.
US President Joe Biden ramped up efforts to calm spiralling violence between Israel and Palestinian militants, and urged the protection of civilians, including children, after an Israeli airstrike targeted media offices in Gaza.
Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of his “grave concern” about the ongoing violence, the White House said in a readout. He reaffirmed, though, Israel’s right to defend itself against “Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza”.
Speaking with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for the first time since taking office, Biden “underscored his strong commitment to a negotiated two-state solution” to resolve the Israeli-palestinian conflict. He stressed the need for Hamas to cease firing rockets into Israel, the White House said.
The conversations followed an airstrike on Saturday that targeted and destroyed a 12-story building in Gaza City that housed the offices of the Associated Press and other media outlets as well as residential apartments.
Hours later, Israel bombed the home of Khalil al-hayeh, a top leader of Gaza’s ruling militant Hamas group, the AP reported, as weeks of tension continue to flare.
Biden “raised concerns about the safety and security of journalists and reinforced the need to ensure their protection”, the White House said. He also noted the loss of civilian lives, including children, in the current conflict.
‘Unacceptable even during a conflict’
The Vienna-based International Press Institute has called Saturday’s strike on the media building “completely unacceptable, even during an armed conflict”.
“There is no doubt that Israeli forces were aware that the media offices would be destroyed,” said John Daniszewski, chairman of IPI’S North American Committee and IPI special representative for journalist safety.
ICC probe sought
An international human rights group is calling upon the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the attack on the building housing media organisations and another where 10 people including eight children were killed calling such attacks a war crime. Amnesty International said on Sunday that “we are deeply concerned over the mounting death toll” in the Gaza Strip.