On Wednesday, Israel said it killed 16 members of the Hamas military wing in an airstrike on Gaza and Hamas showered rockets into Israel as global anxiety climbed over their most extreme hostilities.
According to the Palestinian territory’s health ministry, at least 56 people have been killed in Gaza since violence heightened on Monday. The medical officer said, 6 people have been killed in Israel.
The brigade commander for Gaza City was among senior members of Hamas who had been killed, Israel’s Shin Bet security service said.
“This is just the beginning. We’ll hit them like they’ve never dreamed possible,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
Shortly after the announcement, a new rocket bombardment 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 reinforced the commander’s death and the loss of “other leaders and warriors” and said in a comment: “Thousands of leaders and soldiers will follow in their footsteps.”.
Qatar and the UN had made no progress to end the violence that glowed this week after pressure during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and clashes in East Jerusalem, a Palestinian source said peace efforts by Egypt.
A multi-storey residential building in Gaza deflated after Israel urged its occupants in advance to evacuate, and another was heavily damaged in the airstrikes.
Other airstrikes 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.
A man on a Gaza street said, “Israel has gone crazy,” where people ran out of their homes as blasts rocked buildings.
Gaza’s health ministry said, 16 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza on Wednesday. Witnesses and health officials in Gaza said one Israeli airstrike killed three people, including a woman, in a car.
The military said, besides the Gaza border, an Israeli soldier was killed by an anti-tank missile. Two people were killed by a rocket in Lod, near Tel Aviv.
Anxiety also scattered over in mixed Arab-Jewish towns in Israel where there have been protests over the hostilities. A worship place was torched in Lod.
It was told to the reporters by Defence Minister Benny Gantz that the Israeli military action would continue until “complete and long-term quiet” was completed.
Chevron, a US energy corporation, said it had shut down the Tamar natural gas platform off the Israeli coast in the directions of the Energy Ministry. Israel said its energy needs would remain to be met.
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, Hamas said.
“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.
During Ramadan, the violence followed weeks of stress, with conflicts between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters near Al Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem.
These intensified ahead of a court hearing which is now postponed and that could lead to the removal of Palestinian families from East Jerusalem homes demanded by Jewish settlers.
The dispute has led to the freezing of talks by Netanyahu’s opponents on forming a governing alliance to unseat him after Israel’s inconclusive March 23 election.
Clash has also burned in the occupied West Bank. As reported by the medical sources, 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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