Egyptian mediation fails to halt Gaza hostilities
HAMAS sent a heavy barrage of rockets deep into Israel in a matter of minutes yesterday as Israel pounded Gaza with more air strikes.
The relentless escalation of hostilities came despite Egyptian negotiators holding in-person talks with the two sides, intensifying efforts at mediation.
Previous fighting between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers, including a devastating 2014 war, was largely confined to the impoverished and blockaded Palestinian territory and Israeli communities on the frontier. However, this round is already rippling farther and wider than at any time since the 2000 Palestinian intifada, or uprising, and is tearing apart the country at its seams.
Some rocket attacks have reached the Tel Aviv area, while Arab and Jewish mobs have rampaged through the streets, savagely beating people and torching cars in Israeli cities. Flights have been cancelled or diverted away from the country’s main airport.
Weary Palestinians, meanwhile, sombrely marked the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan yesterday as militants fired one barrage of rockets after another and Israel carried out waves of bone-rattling air strikes. Since the rockets began on Monday, Israel has toppled three high-rise buildings that it said housed Hamas facilities, after warning civilians to evacuate.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said the death toll has climbed to 83 Palestinians, including 17 children and seven women, with more than 480 people wounded. Islamic Jihad has confirmed the deaths of seven militants, while Hamas has acknowledged 13 of its militants killed, including a senior commander.
Israel says the number of militants dead is much higher, while seven people have been killed in Israel. Among them were a soldier killed by an anti-tank missile and a six-yearold child hit in a rocket attack.
Yesterday’s visit by Egyptian security officials was a significant development in international mediation efforts, which have been key to ending past rounds of fighting. The officials met first with Hamas leaders in Gaza before holding talks with the Israelis in Tel Aviv, two Egyptian intelligence officials said.
Still, both Israel and Hamas seemed determined to press ahead. Even as word came of the mediators’ presence, Gaza militants fired a massive volley of around 100 rockets almost simultaneously, raising air raid sirens around southern and central Israel.
There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties – but the barrage appeared aimed at demonstrating that the Hamas arsenal was still plentiful even after three nights of air strikes and the killing on Wednesday of several Hamas leaders involved in the rocket programme.
“The decision to bomb Tel Aviv, Dimona and Jerusalem is easier for us than drinking water,” a spokesman for Hamas’s military wing declared yesterday in a video message. Dimona is the site of Israel’s nuclear reactor.
In Gaza, a pall was cast over Eid alFitr, the holiday at the end of Ramadan’s month of daily fasting. It is usually a festive time when families shop for new clothes and gather for large feasts. Instead, Hamas urged the faithful to mark communal Eid prayers inside their homes or the nearest mosques instead of out in the open, as is traditional.