Images that can hardly be described. A “ball” of fire that illuminates the absolute darkness. It is the moment of a new bombing by Israel in the Gaza Strip , at the dawn of the second week of bloodshed.
Since last Monday (May 10) when the new bloody cycle of clashes and bombings in the Gaza Strip began and not only 200 people have lost their lives. Among them are many children. On Sunday alone, 42 Palestinians were killed, including many children.
In the early hours of Monday (17.05.2021) the Israeli army carried out a series of heavy airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, after a dark week with about 200 dead in the hostilities between the Jewish state and the Islamist faction Hamas, which continue to cross the border. calls for de-escalation.about:blank
On the night of Sunday to Monday, the Israeli Air Force pounded the Gaza Strip with dozens of blows within minutes, causing extensive power outages, according to a French Agency reporter.
Hundreds of buildings were damaged, according to Gaza authorities, who have not yet given information on whether or not there were casualties.
The new Israeli strikes were recorded while the Gaza Strip, where the Islamists rule Hamas, mourned on Sunday (16.05.2021) the heaviest daily report since the new cycle of violence began last Monday night: 42 Palestinians, at least among them Children and two doctors were killed in Israeli strikes, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
In all, 197 Palestinians have been killed since May 10, including at least 58 children, and more than 1,200 have been injured. On the Israeli side, authorities say 10 people were killed, including two children, and 282 injured.
The armed forces of Palestinian factions, including Hamas, have fired more than 3,100 rockets at Israel since the escalation began, the Israeli military said yesterday. This is the highest launch rate ever recorded in Israel. Many of them were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile system.
“Our campaign against terrorist organizations is continuing” and is “in full swing”, “roared” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who also defended the blow that leveled a 13-storey building where the offices of international media, especially television Qatar) and the Associated Press. It was a “perfectly legitimate goal,” he insisted, adding that members of Hamas’ intelligence service were based in the building.
The Israeli military, which says it is targeting Hamas facilities and equipment, as well as members of the organization and underground galleries, has accused Hamas of using civilians as “human shields”.
On Sunday, the Israeli Air Force struck property belonging to the head of the Hamas Politburo in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Shinwar, and his brother, a “terrorist.” Sources close to the Palestinian security forces confirmed the strikes, but added that they did not know the fate of Shinawatra.
The most recent operation by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, an area of two million people where Israel has been under siege for more than ten years, dates back to 2014.
The war between Israel and Hamas then lasted 50 days and claimed the lives of at least 2,251 people on the Palestinian side, mostly civilians, and another 74 on the Israeli side, almost all military.
Violence has spread to the occupied West Bank, where the Palestinian Ministry of Health says 19 people have been killed since last Monday.
In Israel, the conflict has sparked unprecedented unrest in many cities with mixed Israeli and Arab populations: synagogues have been attacked, street clashes have broken out, Israeli far-right attacks have taken place, and lynching threats have been made.
“The intensity of this conflict is something we have never seen before, with relentless airstrikes in densely populated Gaza and missiles hitting major cities in Israel,” said Robert Martini, the Red Cross’s director general.
“Diplomacy” games
Ongoing violence could provoke an “uncontrollable” crisis, “from a security and humanitarian point of view, and further encourage extremism,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned at the start of an emergency meeting. Security.
“This irrational cycle of bloodshed, terror and destruction must stop immediately,” he insisted, while the third digital meeting – this time in public – of the Security Council yielded no results.
According to several diplomats who spoke to Agence France-Presse, the United States has continued to reject any joint statement calling for an end to hostilities.
“The conflict raises the risk that Israelis and Palestinians will escalate into a continuing escalation of violence, with devastating consequences for both communities and the region as a whole,” Guterres warned.
For his part, US President Joe Biden assured that his government is in contact with the Palestinians and Israelis and is working to persuade them to work for lasting peace, adding that the two peoples deserve to live in safety.
“We also believe that Palestinians and Israelis alike deserve to live in security and enjoy equal freedom, prosperity and democracy,” Biden said in a pre-recorded video released on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr. .
“My government will continue to talk to the Palestinians and the Israelis and other partners in the region to move towards restoring lasting peace,” he added.
