The Israeli military sparked another heavy wave of air strikes on Gaza on Monday, saying it had destroyed militant tunnels and the homes of nine Hamas commanders. International diplomacy to end the weeklong war in which hundreds were killed appeared to be making little progress.
Israel has announced that it will continue its attacks on Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza, for the time being, and the United States has signaled that it will not pressure the two sides to enter into a ceasefire, even if President Joe Biden said he supported you.
The latest attacks destroyed the five-story building of the Hamas-run Ministry of Religious Affairs. In a building that, according to Israel, housed the main operations center of Hamas’s internal security forces. Israel also killed a leading Gaza leader in Islamic Jihad, another militant group that the Israeli military blamed for some of the thousands of rocket attacks that have started in Israel in recent days. Israel said its strikes destroyed 15 kilometers of tunnels used by militants.
At least 212 Palestinians, including 61 children and 36 women, were killed in the week of the air strikes, and more than 1,400 people were injured, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Ten people in Israel, including a 5-year-old boy and a soldier, were killed in the ongoing rocket attacks fired from civilian areas in Gaza into civilian areas in Israel.
Violence between Jews and Arabs has also broken out within Israel, injuring numerous people. Police said a Jewish man who was attacked by a group of Arabs in downtown Lod last week died of his wounds on Monday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with senior security officials Monday evening and later said Israel would “continue to target terrorist targets in Gaza”. “We will continue to work as long as necessary to restore peace and security to all Israeli citizens,” he said.
The new air strikes, which hit Gaza on Monday and overnight overnight, excavated one floor of a multi-story concrete building and killed five people. A woman rummaged through clothing, debris, and splintered furniture in a ruined room. A blow destroyed the wall of a room and left an open closet with bedding untouched. Children walked over rubble in the street.
A car on the street that witnesses said was hit by an air strike was bent and torn, its roof torn back and the remains of the driver’s door were smeared with blood. A beach cafe that had just left the car was splintered and burned. Rescue workers tried to put out the fire with a small fire extinguisher.
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Gaza City Mayor Yahya Sarraj said the strikes had severely damaged roads and other infrastructure. He said the water supplies to hundreds of households were disrupted. “We are working very hard to provide water, but the situation remains difficult,” he said.
The United Nations has warned that the territory’s only power plant is in danger of running out of fuel. In Gaza there have been daily blackouts for eight to twelve hours and tap water is not safe to drink. Mohammed Thabet, a spokesman for the territory’s electricity distribution company, said it had fuel to power Gaza for two or three days.
Palestinian officials said Israel has pledged to open its only cargo intersection with Gaza for several hours on Tuesday to allow humanitarian aid – including fuel, food and medicine – to enter.
Israel also said it was targeting a suspected Hamas submersible weapon preparing to attack the Israeli coast.
The war broke out on May 10 when Hamas fired long-range missiles at Jerusalem after weeks of clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police in the holy city. The protests centered on the persistent surveillance of a holy site during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the threatened displacement of dozens of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers.
Further protests were expected across the region on Tuesday in response to a call by the Palestinian citizens of Israel for a general strike. The protest is supported by the Fatah party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
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The Biden government has so far refused to publicly criticize Israel’s role in the fighting or to send a high-ranking envoy to the region. On Monday, the United States again blocked a proposed UN Security Council statement calling for an end to the “Gaza-related crisis” and the protection of civilians, especially children.
The White House said Monday evening that Biden had expressed “support” for a ceasefire during a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But Secretary of State Antony Blinken has earlier signaled that the US does not intend to put pressure on the two sides.
“Ultimately, it is up to the parties to make it clear that they want a ceasefire,” Blinken told reporters during a trip to Denmark.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, who spoke to Netanyahu on Monday, emphasized her country’s solidarity with Israel, condemned the ongoing rocket attacks from Gaza and, according to her office, expressed the hope that the fighting would end quickly.
Hamas top overseas leader Ismail Haniyeh said the group had been contacted by the United Nations, Russia, Egypt and Qatar as part of a ceasefire effort but would “not accept a solution that does not do justice to the victims.” of the Palestinian people. “
Since the fighting began, the Israeli military has launched hundreds of air strikes allegedly targeting Hamas’ militant infrastructure. Palestinian militants in Gaza have fired more than 3,200 rockets at Israel. Israeli military officials said Hamas had around 15,000 rockets stored before the war began. The missile attacks continued on Monday. One hit a building in Ashdod city that caused injuries, Israeli police said.
The Israeli military said six rockets fired from Lebanon late Monday appeared to have fallen on Lebanese territory and the artillery had returned fire to southern Lebanon.
Israel’s air strikes have leveled a number of the tallest buildings in Gaza City that Israel claims contained Hamas’ military infrastructure. Among them was the building that housed The Associated Press Gaza office and other media outlets.
Netanyahu claimed that Hamas military intelligence operated inside the building and said that all evidence was exchanged through intelligence channels. Blinken said he has not yet seen any evidence to support Israel’s claim.
AP President Gary Pruitt called for an independent investigation into the attack.
“As I said, we have no evidence of a Hamas presence in the building, nor have we been warned of such a possible presence prior to the air strike,” he said in a statement. “This is something we check as best we can. We don’t know what the Israeli evidence is showing and we want to know.”
The Israeli military said it hit 35 “terrorist targets” on Monday, as did the tunnels, which are part of an elaborate system called the “metro” used by fighters to protect themselves from air strikes. They included a strike against a building that housed Qatar’s Red Crescent, Qatar said. This attack killed a man and a 12-year-old girl.
The tunnels stretch hundreds of kilometers (miles) and are more than 20 meters (yards) deep, according to an Israeli Air Force official who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity in accordance with regulations. The official said Israel had not tried to destroy all of the tunnels, only bottlenecks and key intersections.
The military also said it hit nine houses in different parts of the northern Gaza Strip belonging to “senior commanders” in Hamas. Islamic Jihad said a strike killed Hasam Abu Harbid, the commander of the militant group for the northern Gaza Strip.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad say at least 20 of their fighters have been killed, while Israel says the number is at least 130 and has published the names and photos of more than two dozen militant commanders it says “eliminated “were. The Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip does not provide a breakdown of the number of victims who were militants or civilians.
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