A night of heavy bombardment on the Gaza Strip has continued into Wednesday morning as Israeli forces launched intensive raids on various locations across the besieged coastal territory.
Local sources said Israeli fighter jets bombed sites belonging to Palestinian armed groups, in addition to security and police buildings. In Gaza City’s Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood, a pregnant woman, Reema Telbani and her child were killed by an Israeli attack on their home.
Gaza’s ministry of health said the overall death toll since the latest offensive began stood at 53, including 14 children. More than 300 others have been wounded.
Six Israelis have also been killed. The Israeli army said that about 1,500 rockets have been fired from Gaza towards various locations in Israel and they have added reinforcements near the enclave’s eastern lands.
Here are the latest updates:
Israeli airstrike kills Gaza City commander
Hamas, the group that rules the Gaza Strip, has confirmed that its Gaza City commander was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Wednesday.
Bassem Issa is the highest-ranking military figure in Hamas to be killed by Israel since a 2014 war in Gaza.
In a statement, the armed wing of Hamas said Issa was killed “along with a few of his fellow brothers of leaders and holy fighters” during the fighting that has been going on for two days in Gaza.
Earlier, Israel’s internal security agency said that a series of Israeli airstrikes had killed Issa and several other senior Hamas militants.
Issa and several commanders responsible for the different districts of the Gaza Strip form the military council of Hamas, the highest body deciding the group’s militant operations.
Israeli PM threatens to use ‘iron fist if needed’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will use “an iron fist if needed” to stop protests by its Palestinian citizens.
“We are continuing our efforts to stop the anarchy and restore governance to the cities of Israel, with an iron fist if needed, with all forces needed and all authorities required,” he said, speaking in Acre along Israel’s northern coastline.
Dozens of Palestinians were arrested at protests in other towns and cities within the Green Line, the generally recognised boundary between Israel and the West Bank.
In the central city of Lod, also known as Lydd, a state of emergency was declared for the first time in 66 years. Israeli authorities ordered the redeployment of paramilitary border police companies from the occupied West Bank as reinforcements.
Thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel protested in the city after the funeral of Moussa Hassouneh, who was shot dead by a Jewish settler on Monday.
The crowd fought with police and set a synagogue and some 30 vehicles on fire, Israeli media reported.
Hamas fires rockets at Dimona
The armed wing of Hamas, the al-Qassam Brigades, said it has fired at least 15 rockets at the Israeli city of Dimona.
Located in the southern Negev (or Naqab) desert, Dimona is home to a nuclear power plant.
At least 50 rockets were also fired at Ashdod, Hamas said. Photos of smoke rising from Ashdod’s port were published by Israeli media.
Hamas operatives targeted, Israeli army says
The Israeli army and intelligence said they have carried out air strikes that killed senior members of the al-Qassam Brigades in Gaza City and Khan Younis that were close to Hamas’s elusive commander Mohammad Deif.
Deif, whose whereabouts and presence is shrouded in secrecy, has survived five assassination attempts by Israel over the years and is their most wanted man.
Gaza death toll rises to 53
The health ministry in the Gaza Strip said the number of Palestinians killed has now risen to 53, including 14 children and three women.
At least 320 others have been wounded.
Islamic Jihad: We will not back down
The armed wing of the Islamic Jihad group said in a statement it has fired more than 100 rockets early on Wednesday morning towards Tel Aviv and the surrounding areas.
A spokesman for the al-Quds Brigades said three of its commanders were killed by Israeli air raids in the Gaza Strip on Monday, and identified them as Sameh Fahim al-Mamluk, Kamal Taiseer Qureiqe, and Mohammed Yahya Abu Atah.
“We will continue to respond to Israel’s aggressions,” the spokesman said. “We will not back down on our resistance no matter what the price is.”
UK PM Johnson calls for Israel and Palestinians to step back from brink
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday called for Israel and the Palestinians to step back from the brink and for both sides to show restraint.
“The UK is deeply concerned by the growing violence and civilian casualties and we want to see an urgent de-escalation of tensions,” Johnson said on Twitter.
Israel promises more attacks before any truce
The Israeli defence minister, Benny Gantz, said there is no specific date to end Israel’s offensive on the Gaza Strip.
“The IDF [Israeli army] will continue to strike and bring complete silence for the long term,” he said, speaking from the southern city of Ashkelon.
“In Gaza, towers are falling, factories are collapsing, tunnels are being wiped out and commanders are being assassinated.”
Israeli army spokesman Jonathan Conricus said he expected the fighting to intensify and, when asked about unconfirmed reports that Hamas might seek a ceasefire, said: “I don’t think my commanders are aware, or particularly interested.”
48 Palestinians killed in Gaza
Gaza’s health ministry said the death toll in Gaza has risen to 48, including 14 children and three women.
At least 304 others have been wounded.
Erdogan, Putin discuss Israel raids
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russia’s Vladimir Putin discussed in a phone call the escalation in the Gaza Strip, Turkey’s presidency said, as Ankara seeks international action against Israel.
Erdogan told Putin the international community needed to “teach a deterrent lesson” to Israel, adding that Ankara was working to mobilise this reaction, according to a statement from his office.
Erdogan also called for work to be done on sending international peacekeepers to the region to help safeguard Palestinians, a proposal Turkey has made since 2018.
Gaza death toll increases to 43 Palestinians killed
The Gaza health ministry said the number of Palestinians killed from Israeli air attacks is now at 43 Palestinians, including 13 children and three women.
At least 290 others have been wounded, Al Jazeera journalist Safwat al-Kahlout said.
“In the last hour, there were two Israeli air strikes,” al-Kahlout said, speaking from Gaza City.
“One of them hit the car of a local farmer, according to local witnesses in the northern Gaza Strip. Five farmers were killed in the attack.”
“In a separate attack on Gaza City, there was another Israeli air strike on a car,” he continued. “Eyewitnesses said a woman and her two children were [killed] in the car.”
Hamas says Israeli air raids destroyed all Gaza police buildings
Israeli air raids in the Gaza Strip have destroyed all police buildings in the coastal territory, according to Gaza’s Hamas-led Interior Ministry.
“Israeli occupation planes launched successive raids that resulted in the destruction of all police headquarters buildings in Gaza City,” Eyad al-Bozom, a ministry spokesman said Wednesday morning.
Dozens of loud explosions were heard in western Gaza.
The Israeli army said it had shelled a building during the night that housed senior members of Hamas’s military intelligence service.
The homes of key Hamas representatives were also attacked, the Israeli military said.
One Israeli soldier killed after Hamas targeted Israeli military vehicle
An Israeli soldier has been killed after a military jeep stationed on the outskirts of the northern Gaza Strip was targeted by the military wing of Hamas.
Earlier, the al-Qassam Brigades said three Israelis were wounded after it targeted the jeep with a Kornet missile.
According to Israeli media, the soldier succumbed to injuries after an anti-tank missile was fired on the jeep.
War crimes court concerned over violence in West Bank: ICC
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has expressed concern about escalating violence in the occupied West Bank and the possibility that war crimes are being committed there, its prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said.
“I note with great concern the escalation of violence in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as well as in and around Gaza, and the possible commission of crimes under the Rome Statute,” Bensouda wrote on Twitter.
Is the Palestinian Authority being sidelined?
The Palestinian Authority (PA) and Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) executive committee are set to meet on Wednesday night in Ramallah to discuss the Israeli escalation in the Gaza Strip.
“We’ve spoken to a PLO executive committee member who told us that the language the international community has been using is not strong enough to curb the Israeli violations,” Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim said, speaking from Ramallah.
Ibrahim said that for many Palestinians, the usual track the PA resorts to in times of escalation of appealing to the international community to condemn Israel is not enough.
“There’s a growing feeling among Palestinians that Israel only understands the language of force, which is why we’ve seen in the protests in the occupied West Bank in the past few days people calling on Gaza [armed groups] to respond,” she said.
Hamas leader says group ‘ready’ for Israeli escalation
Hamas head Ismail Haniya said he had told mediators the problem is not with Gaza but with Israel, adding that the group Hamas is “ready” if Israel increases its attacks.
“If (Israel) wants to escalate, we are ready for it, and if it wants to stop, we’re also ready,” Haniya, who currently lives outside the Strip, said in a televised address.
Haniya went on to say that linking Jerusalem with the Gaza Strip is reflective of equating “resistance with identity” and hailed the protests that have broken out among Palestinians within Israel and the occupied territories.
“We are all moving together in a coherent manner in order to confront the occupation,” he said.
Haniya renewed the call for all “our Palestinian people to unite the ranks” and called on the Palestinian Authority to “stop security cooperation” with Israel.
Two Palestinians killed in occupied West Bank
A Palestinian teenager has been shot dead by Israeli forces during a raid on Aqaba village, east of the occupied West Bank town of Tubas.
Rashid Abu Arreh, 16, was killed after Israeli forces raided the village to arrest another Palestinian, Sheikh Mustafa Abu Ara.
Medical sources also said that Hussein al-Titi, 26, was shot dead during protests against the Israeli army in al-Fawwar refugee camp, south of Hebron.
Translation: Hussein Atiya al-Titi, 26 years old, was killed in Fuwwar refugee camp south of Hebron during confrontations with Israeli forces.
For updates from Tuesday, May 11, please click here.
