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Senior Hamas commander among 56 killed in Israel-Palestinian clash

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Smoke rises after Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. — AP

Smoke rises after Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. — AP

Gaza/Jerusalem - Hamas launches rocket raids as Israel continues air strikes on Gaza

Published: Wed 12 May 2021, 7:12 PM

Updated: Wed 12 May 2021, 11:54 PM

  • By
  • Reuters

Israel said it killed 16 members of the Hamas military wing in an air strike on Gaza on Wednesday and Hamas rained rockets into Israel as global concern mounted over their most intense hostilities.

At least 56 people have been killed in Gaza since violence escalated on Monday, according to the Palestinian territory’s health ministry. Six people have been killed in Israel, medical officials said.

Israel’s Shin Bet security service said the brigade commander for Gaza City was among senior members of Hamas who had been killed.

“This is just the beginning. We’ll hit them like they’ve never dreamed possible,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.

Soon after the announcement, a new rocket barrage was fired at the Israeli city of Ashdod and Israeli media said the military was preparing for new salvoes on the Tel Aviv area.

Hamas confirmed the commander’s death and the loss of “other leaders and warriors” and said in a statement: “Thousands of leaders and soldiers will follow in their footsteps.”.

A Palestinian source said truce efforts by Egypt, Qatar and the UN had made no progress to end violence that flared this week after tension during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and clashes in East Jerusalem.

In Gaza, a multi-storey residential building collapsed after Israel warned its occupants in advance to evacuate, and another was heavily damaged in the air strikes.

Other air strikes hit what Israel’s military said were rocket launch sites, Hamas offices and the homes of Hamas leaders. Israeli officials said at least 41 Palestinian fighters have been killed in the Gaza hostilities so far.

“Israel has gone crazy,” said a man on a Gaza street, where people ran out of their homes as explosions rocked buildings.

Sixteen people were killed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza on Wednesday, Gaza’s health ministry said. Witnesses and health officials in Gaza said one Israeli air strike killed three people, including a woman, in a car.

Along the Gaza border, an Israeli soldier was killed by an anti-tank missile, the military said. Two people were killed by a rocket in Lod, near Tel Aviv.

Tension also spilled over in mixed Arab-Jewish towns in Israel where there have been demonstrations over the hostilities. A synagogue was torched in Lod.

Defence Minister Benny Gantz told reporters the Israeli military action would continue until “complete and long-term quiet” was achieved.

US energy corporation Chevron said it had shut down the Tamar natural gas platform off the Israeli coast on the instructions of the Energy Ministry. Israel said its energy needs would continue to be met.

Hamas said it fired 210 rockets towards Beersheba in southern Israel and at Tel Aviv overnight in response to the strikes on the tower buildings in Gaza City.

“If they (Israeli forces) want to escalate, the resistance is ready, if they want to stop, the resistance is ready,” Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said.

The violence followed weeks of tension during Ramadan, with clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters near Al Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem.

These escalated ahead of a court hearing — now postponed — that could lead to the eviction of Palestinian families from East Jerusalem homes claimed by Jewish settlers.

The conflict has led to the freezing of talks by Netanyahu’s opponents on forming a governing coalition to unseat him after Israel’s inconclusive March 23 election.

Violence has also flared in the occupied West Bank. Medical sources said a 16-year-old Palestinian was killed in clashes with Israeli forces on Wednesday. Gaza’s health ministry said 14 of the people reported killed in the enclave were children. The Israeli military said it was looking into these reports and that preventing civilian casualties was a priority.



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