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Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad have reportedly fired more than 300 rockets at Israel in retaliation for attacks on buildings and civilians.
In response, Israeli forces staged the largest attack on the Gaza Strip since the 2014 Gaza conflict. Among the targets of the raids were the homes of high-ranking Hamas members.
The most intense fire since 2014 among opponents, sparked by violence in Jerusalem, has already claimed at least 35 Palestinian lives in the Gaza Strip and five lives in Israel. Hundreds more people were injured.
In the densely populated, Israeli-blockaded and Hamas-controlled enclave of the Gaza Strip, 12 children and a woman are among those killed since Monday night.
Another 230 people were reportedly injured in the ongoing Israeli raids. Many of them were taken from the ruins of smoking buildings.
Earlier, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz warned that this was just the beginning of the Israeli strikes.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, for his part, said: “If Israel wants to escalate, we are ready.”
“It was terrifying”
Hamas rockets masked sirens when Hamas rockets crashed and some people were unable to escape to underground shelters.
“It was terrifying,” said Roy Ben Shlomo, 38, of Ramat Ghana, a resident of Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv, adding that he had heard “some shots or explosions above our heads.”
Israeli police said a man and a girl were killed in a central city in Lodh on Wednesday when rockets fired from the Gaza Strip hit their car.
An Israeli woman was killed when rockets reached the southern outskirts of the coastal city of Rishon-Lecion, and two women were killed by rockets fired by militants in Ashkelon, which Hamas threatened to turn into “hell”.
At one point, Hamas said it had launched more than 100 missiles in less than five minutes to dwarf air defenses.
The Jewish army said more than 600 rockets had been fired from Israel from the Gaza Strip on Monday, mostly Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Many of them have fallen in the Gaza Strip or Israel’s Iron Dome air defense systems have been shot down. However, at least 100 Israelis were injured.
The rocket fire forced Israel to suspend flights for a time at its main Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a state of emergency in Lod after police said that “some Arabs have caused widespread disturbances.”
After Israeli Arabs were killed in that city, reinforcements were sent to the district at night.
A Palestinian was killed in clashes with Israeli troops in the southern occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said Wednesday.
“Everything is on fire”
In Gaza, people navigated the ruins after a 12-story building was destroyed during an Israeli raid.
The Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, said it was a residential building. Reporters from the AFP news agency reported that it also housed the offices of several Hamas officials.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad have confirmed that their high-ranking commanders have been killed in Israeli raids.
Jonathan Conricus, a spokesman for the Israeli army, said that 20 Islamist militants had been killed in the Gaza Strip, according to the Jewish state.
“We hope that the fight will intensify,” he warned.
When asked about unconfirmed reports that Hamas is seeking a ceasefire, Conricus said: “I don’t think my commanders are aware of this or are particularly interested in it.”
An Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday killed five members of the same family, including young brothers Ibrahim and Marwan.
“We laughed and had fun when suddenly we were bombed, everything around us caught fire,” his cousin Ibrahim told AFP.
“I saw the cousins catch fire and be torn to pieces,” the 14-year-old said through tears. – Why did they leave me? I would have liked to die a martyr like them ”.
Clashes in Jerusalem
Tensions erupted when, on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Israeli riot police clashed with a crowd at the Palestinian compound of the al-Axa mosque in Jerusalem.
Since then, at least 700 Palestinians have been injured in nightly clashes in a compound considered sacred by Muslims and Jews and in other parts of East Jerusalem.
According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, Palestinian officials again clashed with riot gear on Tuesday night and 245 were injured.
Diplomatic sources told AFP that Egypt and Qatar, which had mediated the resolution of previous conflicts between Israel and Hamas, were trying to defuse tensions.
But Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told an extraordinary meeting of the Arab League that although Cairo had appealed to Israel and other countries, “we have not received the necessary response.”
The UN Security Council will discuss the violence in an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday
The previous UN Security Council meeting ended without a joint statement, as the United States expressed reluctance to adopt the draft statement “at this time.”
On Tuesday, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation reiterated its support for the Palestinians, “condemning in the strongest terms” the “repeated attack by the Israeli occupying power against the Palestinian people.”
There have also been large protests in solidarity with Palestinians around the world, including in London, as well as in Muslim-dominated countries, including Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Tunisia, and Turkey.
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