Israel, militants trade barrages and blame
Israel has stepped up its attacks on the Gaza Strip, flattening a high-rise building used by the Hamas militant group and killing at least three militants in their hideouts as Palestinian rockets rained down almost non-stop on parts of Israel.
Yesterday’s violence was the heaviest fighting between the bitter enemies since 2014, and it shows no signs of slowing.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to expand the offensive, while Gaza militants unleashed a fierce latenight barrage of rockets that set off air raid sirens and explosions throughout the densely populated Tel Aviv metropolitan area.
Just after daybreak, Israel unleashed dozens of air strikes in a few minutes, targeting police and security installations, witnesses said. A wall of dark grey smoke rose over Gaza City.
Iyad al-Bozum, a spokesman for the Hamas-run Interior Ministry, said air strikes had destroyed the central police headquarters in Gaza City, a compound with several buildings.
Five Israelis, including three women and a child, were killed by rocket fire, and dozens of people wounded. The death toll in Gaza rose to 35 Palestinians, including 10 children, according to the Health Ministry. Over 200 people were wounded.
In another sign of widening unrest, demonstrations erupted in Arab communities across Israel, where protesters set dozens of vehicles on fire in confrontations with police.
The fighting between Israel and Hamas, sparked by religious tensions in the contested city of Jerusalem, was the most intense since a 50-day war in 2014.
In a nationally televised address, Netanyahu said that Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant groups ‘‘have paid, and I tell you here, will pay a heavy price for their aggression’’.
He claimed that Israel had killed dozens of militants and inflicted heavy damage on hundreds of targets.
The Israeli military said it was activating some 5000 reservists and sending troop reinforcements to the Gaza border.
Critics say heavy-handed Israeli police measures in and around Jerusalem’s Old City had helped to stoke the unrest. Another flashpoint has been the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where dozens of Palestinians are under threat of eviction by Jewish settlers.
Confrontations erupted last weekend at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, which is the thirdholiest site in Islam and the holiest site in Judaism.
In a televised address, Hamas’ exiled leader, Ismail Haniyeh, said Israel bore responsibility. ‘‘It’s the Israeli occupation that set Jerusalem on fire, and the flames reached Gaza.’’
Islamic Jihad confirmed that three senior commanders were killed in a strike on their hideout in a Gaza City apartment building.