Gaza Conflict Rages as Israeli PM Says Air Strikes will Continue
Israeli air strikes in Gaza and counter-rocket firing by the Palestinian Hamas group continued even today. At least 10 people were killed and several others also reported missing in Gaza on Saturday.
Officials say seven members of two families were killed in an Israeli air strike on a refugee camp called Al-Shati in Gaza.
A five-month-old child trapped under the rubble is said to have been rescued alive, and no one else in the family is alive, according to a report of BBC.
In response to Israeli air strikes and bombings, the Palestinian Hamas group fired at least 200 more rockets into southern Israel.
In Israel, 19 people injured in a Palestinian rocket attack from Gaza in Beer Sheva city have been taken to hospital. Rockets hit several buildings in both Beer Sheva and Ashdod cities.
A US envoy, Hadi Amr, has visited Israel in an attempt to stop the Palestinian-Israel conflict that has been going on for the past six days.
During the visit, he will hold meetings with Israelis, Palestinians and officials at the United Nations.
Saturday is the anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 and the loss of millions of Palestinian homes – and is remembered by Palestinians as the day of the ‘al-Nakba’ or the Great Disaster.
Palestinian casualties have been taking place mainly in Gaza for the past few days but clashes also broke out in the West Bank on Friday. Eleven people were killed in Palestinian clashes with Israeli forces there.
So far 150 people have been killed in Palestinian territory in a week-long battle. Eight people were killed in Israel, media report.
Since Monday, about 10,000 Palestinians have fled their homes in Gaza due to the conflict.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that they will continue air strikes, Reuters reports.
How did the fighting escalate on Saturday?
Thirteen people died within the Gaza Strip on Saturday, with 10 killed by an Israeli air strike at a refugee camp west of Gaza Metropolis, Palestinian health officials said.
A five-month-old child is claimed to be the one survivor of that strike, discovered trapped within the rubble subsequent to his lifeless mom. Quite a lot of people had been additionally reported lacking.
Akram Farouq, 36, dashed out of his dwelling in Gaza alongside together with his household after a neighbour informed him that they had acquired a name from an Israeli officer warning their constructing can be hit, Reuters information company experiences.
An estimated 10,000 Palestinians have left their houses in Gaza since Monday due to the battle, in keeping with the UN.
Saturday additionally noticed an Israeli air strike destroy a tower block in Gaza housing media organisations. No-one is understood to have died on this assault.
Israeli officers reported about 200 rocket launches from Gaza in a single day, with houses hit within the southern cities of Ashdod, Beersheba and Sderot.
What happened to the Gaza tower block?
On Saturday afternoon, an Israeli air strike destroyed a high-rise building housing media organisations, together with the Associated Press and Al-Jazeera, plus numerous workplaces and residences.
In a press release launched shortly afterwards, the Israeli navy mentioned the building belonging to Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that guidelines Gaza. The building landlord has denied this.
The Associated Press (AP) mentioned the block was hit roughly an hour after Israeli forces ordered folks to evacuate.
The information organisation’s CEO, Gary Pruitt, mentioned: “That is an extremely disturbing improvement. We narrowly averted a horrible lack of life. A dozen AP journalists and freelancers inside the building and fortunately we have been in a position to evacuate them in time.”
