From the BBC:
“Gaza conflict: Death toll mounts
amid days of violence”
The death toll is mounting on
both sides after three days of cross-border violence between Israel and
militants on the Gaza strip. The most intense clashes in years have so far left
at least four Israelis and 23 Palestinians dead. The Israeli army says more
than 600 rockets have been fired into Israeli territory since Saturday, while
it has hit 320 targets in response. Parts of the international community,
including the UN, have called for calm. Reports on Sunday night suggest the UN,
Qatar and Egypt are trying to broker a ceasefire. On Sunday, Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the military to "continue
its massive strikes on terror elements" in Gaza. Israel has said its air
defence has intercepted more than 150 rockets so far. Mr Netanyahu says the
country's forces around the strip would be "stepped up with tank,
artillery and infantry forces". As rockets continue to fall in Israel, all
schools within 40km (25 miles) of the Gaza strip have been closed and some
shelters have opened to the public.
What do we know about casualties?
Four people have so far died from
the violence in Israel:
A 58-year-old man died from
injuries in a rocket strike on a house in Ashkelon on Saturday night
A worker died in Ashkelon on
Sunday when a rocket hit a factory
Another man, 67, was killed when
his car was apparently struck by an anti-tank missile
A fourth person, who was in his
early 20s, was killed in the southern city of Ashdod
The funeral for one Israeli casualty, Moshe
Agadi, was held on Sunday
The Gaza Health Ministry says 23
Palestinians have died across the weekend. Most of the deaths came on Sunday.
The Islamic Jihad group said seven of the dead were its members. Civilians,
including a 12-year-old boy and two pregnant women were also among those
reportedly killed. Israel has contested
the account of the death of one woman and her 14-month-old niece on Saturday.
They blamed their deaths on a Palestinian rocket that fell short of its target.
On Sunday, the Israeli military admitted a targeted assassination of a Hamas
commander named Hamed Hamdan al-Khodari - sharing a video of the apparent
moment they hit his car. The sites
Israel says has destroyed include a multi-storey building in Gaza City, which
it said included Hamas intelligence offices. Turkey said its state news agency
Anadolu had an office there. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called Israeli
strikes on civilians "a crime against humanity". On Sunday night,
Hamas leader Ismail Haniya said in a statement that "returning to a state
of calm is possible" if Israel committed to a "complete
ceasefire".
How did the latest violence develop?
It began on Friday, during
protests in Gaza against the blockade of the area - which Israel says is needed
to stop weapons reaching militants. A Palestinian gunman shot and wounded two
Israeli soldiers at the boundary fence. Israel retaliated with an air strike
that killed two militants. The rocket barrage from Gaza began on Saturday
morning. Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system shot down dozens of the
rockets, but a number of homes in Israeli towns and villages were hit.
How does the flare-up in violence
compare?
It is the one of the most surges
in violence since the conflict of July and August 2014. In that year, Israel
launched a ground offensive on Gaza following the kidnapping and killing of
three Israeli teenagers. The conflict resulted in the death of 67 Israeli soldiers.
Hamas and its allies launched more than 4,500 rocket strikes that killed six
civilians in Israel. On the Palestinian
side, 2,251 people, including 1,462 civilians, were killed in the seven-week
conflict, according to the UN. Since
then, Palestinian militants have continued to carry out sporadic strikes on
Israel. In a previous wave this year, in March, several rockets were fired into
southern Israel, triggering raids on Gaza by the Israeli air force. No
fatalities were reported on either side. In early April a ceasefire was
brokered by Egypt, but Hamas and allied militant groups later accused Israel of
violating its terms.
What has the reaction been?
Nickolay Mladenov, the UN Special
Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, has condemned the recent
violence and said the UN is working with both sides to calm the violence. In a statement, UN Chief Antonio Guterres has
condemned "in the strongest terms" rockets being launched into
Israel. "He urges all parties to exercise maximum restraint, immediately
de-escalate and return to the understandings of the past few months," the
statement added. Speaking on Fox News on
Sunday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Israelis have "every right to
defend themselves" from rocket attacks. "I hope we can return to the
ceasefire that had been in place for weeks and had been holding significantly
before this," he added. The European Union on Sunday called for rocket
fire to "stop immediately". Iran's
foreign minister, condemned what he labelled as Israel's "savage"
attacks on Gaza, while also hitting out at "unlimited American
support" of Israel. Save the
Children has said it has had to suspend all but essential programs in the Gaza
strip. Jeremy Stoner, their Middle East Regional Director, said the group were
"deeply alarmed" by rapidly rising casualties on both sides, and
called for de-escalation.
^ Hopefully the Palestinians will
stop their useless and pointless attacks on Israel. The International Community
needs to do a lot more to condemn the Palestinians for starting the attacks and
focus on how missiles are getting into Gaza. Only then can there be real peace. ^
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