GAZA: Israeli planes today (Saturday) renewed air strikes in Gaza, as death toll of Palestinians killed in the fighting reached 132, 31 among them children, while US and Arab diplomats sought an end to the violence.
Despite intensifying diplomatic efforts to ease five days of fighting between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza, Israel’s air force struck several sites in the strip overnight, while rockets again tore towards the Jewish state.
According to Palestinian medical officials, at least 132 people have been killed in Gaza since Monday, including 32 children and 21 women, and 950 others wounded. At least four people were killed in one of several airstrikes in northern Gaza today (Saturday).
Hamas said a woman and a boy were among four people killed in an Israeli air strike that hit a home belonging to the Abu Hattab family in Gaza City’s Beach refugee camp.
Israel, which is also trying to contain internal Jewish-Arab violence, is facing a conflict in the Palestinian territories unlike any in its recent history. Its bombardment of Gaza began Monday in response to rocket fire towards Jerusalem from Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups in the enclave.
Sirens sounded in two major southern Israeli cities warning of incoming fire from Gaza. Hamas claimed responsibility for launching rockets. Among eight dead in Israel were a soldier patrolling the Gaza border and six civilians, Israeli authorities said.
The fighting in blockaded Gaza, the worst since a 2014 war, exploded following hostilities in east Jerusalem. Fresh overnight tensions hit the east Jerusalem area of Shuafat, where young, masked Palestinian protesters set debris on fire as Israeli police responded with tear gas.
