Violence in Middle East causing alarm
ROCKETS have streamed out of Gaza and Israel has pounded the territory with air strikes as the most severe outbreak of violence since a 2014 war took on many hallmarks of that devastating 50-day conflict, with the UN fearing ‘full-scale war.’
Palls of grey smoke rose in Gaza, as Israeli air strikes levelled two apartment towers and hammered the militant group’s multiple security installations, destroying the central police compound.
In Israel, barrages of hundreds of rockets fired by Gaza’s Hamas rulers and other militants at times overwhelmed missile defences and brought air raid sirens echoing across Tel Aviv, Israel’s biggest metropolitan area, and other cities.
The death toll in Gaza rose to 48 Palestinians, including 14 children and three women, according to the health ministry. More than 300 people have been wounded, including 86 children and 39 women.
Six Israelis, including three women and a child, were killed by rocket fire, and dozens were wounded.
While the rapidly escalating conflict has brought images familiar from the 2014 Israel-Hamas war, the past day has also seen a startling new factor – a burst of fury from Israel’s Palestinian citizens in support of those living in the territories and against Israel’s recent response to unrest in Jerusalem and its current operations in Gaza.
Amid those protests, communal violence erupted in several mixed Jewish-Arab Israeli cities, including the burning of a Jewish-owned restaurant and a synagogue, the fatal shooting of an Arab man and attacks on Arab-owned cars.
In a rare move that highlighted the tensions, Israeli defence minister Benny Gantz yesterday ordered units of border guards deployed to help police keep order.
There was no sign that either side is willing to back down.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to expand the offensive, saying ‘this will take time.’
Hamas has called for a full-scale intifada, or uprising.
The last such uprising began in 2000 and lasted more than five years.
The latest eruption of violence began a month ago in Jerusalem, where heavy-handed police tactics during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers ignited protests and clashes with police.
A focal point was the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a site sacred to Jews and Muslims.
Late on Monday, Hamas, claiming to be ‘defending Jerusalem,’ launched a barrage of rockets at the city in a major escalation.
The Israeli military said militants have fired more than 1,050 rockets since the conflict began, with the UN Security Council planning to hold its second closed emergency meeting in three days yesterday on the escalating violence.