Raging conflict triggers fears of a ‘full-scale war’
Israel vows more hits
Jerusalem, May 12: Relentless rocket fire and rioting in mixed JewishArab towns fuelled growing fears on Wednesday that deadly violence between Israel and Palestinians could spiral into “full-scale war”.
Israel’s defence minister Benny Gantz vowed more attacks on Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups in Gaza to bring “total, long-term quiet” before considering a ceasefire.
Gaza militants have launched more than 1,000 rockets since Monday, said Israel's army, which has carried out hundreds of air strikes on Islamist groups in the crowded coastal enclave of Gaza.
The most intense hostilities in seven years have killed at least 53 people in Gaza, including 14 children, and six in Israel, including an Israeli soldier and one Indian national, since Monday.
Three Palestinians were killed in West Bank clashes. And at least 230 Palestinians and 100
Israelis have been wounded. The bloodshed was triggered by weekend unrest at Jerusalem’s AlAqsa Mosque compound, which is sacred to both Muslims and Jews.
As world powers voiced growing alarm and the UN Security Council readied for another emergency meeting on the bloody crisis, the UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland warned that “we’re escalating towards a full-scale war”.
Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu declared a state of emergency in the mixed Jewish-Arab Israeli city of Lod, where the police said “wide-scale riots erupted among some of the Arab residents”.
In another strike, Hamas’ Gaza City commander was killed Wednesday, the group confirmed, making him the highest-ranking military figure in the group to be killed by Israel since the 2014 war.
Jerusalem, May 12: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday declared a state of emergency in the central city of Lod as police accused Arab residents of waging “wide-scale riots”.
Netanyahu’s statement came after an Israeli Arab was killed in Lod the previous night as violence soars between Israel and the Palestinian territories.
According to a photographer, Netanyahu himself went to the city, which is in the suburbs of economic hub Tel Aviv near the Ben Gurion airport, to call for calm.
The city of 77,000 people, including 47,000 Jewish Israelis and 23,000 Arab Israelis, had been the scene of violent clashes on Monday, the local police confirmed.
But on Tuesday evening, as protests multiplied across East Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and also Israeli Arab cities, the situation degenerated in Lod, police said.
“Wide-scale riots erupted by some of the Arab residents and endangering communities,” the police said in a statement.
“Vehicle were burnt and damage caused to property.”The government said reinforcements had been deployed after Israeli media reported that three synagogues and several businesses were set on fire in Lod.
“Sixteen border police platoons (have been) mobilised in areas in order to deal with the violence,” the police added.
There were also violent scenes in Israeli Arab areas including Acre, Wadi Ara and Jisr A-Zarqa, where eight people were arrested, police said.
Weeks of tensions boiled over when Israeli riot police clashed with crowds of Palestinians at Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa mosque, on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Nightly clashes since then at the compound, which is holy to both Muslims and Jews, and elsewhere in east Jerusalem have left at least 700 Palestinians injured.
On Tuesday Palestinian militants Hamas and the Israeli army traded their heaviest fire for several years, with rockets fired at Tel Aviv after an Israeli strike destroyed a tower block in Gaza.