According to the Associated Press, Israel carried out a series of overnight airstrikes in Gaza on what the Benjamin Netanyahu-led government said were militant targets. The airstrikes destroyed a six-story building and resulted in the firing of hundreds of rockets into Israel.
Palestinians, meanwhile, went on strike for the second week in a row as the dispute between the two sides entered its second week.
According to the BBC, which cited health authorities, there were no immediate reports of casualties in Gaza as a result of the overnight attacks. According to Gaza’s health ministry, 212 Palestinians, including 61 children, have died as a result of the ongoing conflict. As many as ten people were killed in Israel, including a 5-year-old child.
More than 38,000 Palestinians were displaced in Gaza as a result of Israeli airstrikes, according to the UN, and over 2,500 were left homeless after their homes were destroyed.
The UN statement read, “We continue to receive reports of substantial Palestinian displacement, with over 38,000 internally displaced people seeking shelter in 48 UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) schools across the Gaza Strip.” Owing to the loss of their houses, over 2,500 people have become homeless.
Israel said that the airstrikes, which lasted until late Monday night and early Tuesday morning, had severely damaged Hamas’ military infrastructure.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict does not appear to be approaching an end anytime soon, with Netanyahu stating on May 15 that Israel will continue to strike as long as it was appropriate. Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, has also stated that it will continue to fire across the border.
Israel has demolished a number of Gaza’s tallest office and residential buildings since the war began, claiming that they house Hamas military facilities. On Saturday, it moved to the 12-story Al-Jalaa building, which housed the offices of the Associated Press, Al Jazeera, and other news organisations, as well as several floors of apartments.
A worldwide call for a truce has been released.
Protests against Israel’s decision to continue airstrikes have erupted in the United States, Pakistan, Argentina, South Korea, and Indonesia.
In a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, US President Joe Biden reaffirmed the US’ strong support for Israel’s right to protect itself against indiscriminate rocket attacks. According to the White House, the president expressed his support for a truce and addressed US cooperation with Egypt and other partners in that regard. The two leaders spoke about how far Israel’s military operations in Gaza against Hamas and other terrorist organisations have progressed.
According to the White House, the president expressed his support for a truce and addressed US cooperation with Egypt and other partners in that regard. The two leaders spoke about how far Israel’s military operations in Gaza against Hamas and other terrorist organisations have progressed.
According to the BBC, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has also called for an end to the conflict, saying that it has resulted in a large number of casualties among the peaceful populations, including children. We believe it is important that both sides stop using violence and actively seek a solution based on applicable UN Security Council resolutions – and, of course, widely accepted international law principles, Putin said.
At a United Nations Security Council meeting on Sunday, India called for an immediate de-escalation of the situation between Israel and Palestine. New Delhi has condemned Gaza’s missile attacks and Israel’s retaliatory strikes. TS Tirumurti, India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, urged the two countries to resume direct talks immediately and claimed that New Delhi supports a two-state solution.
The dispute
On May 7, the violence intensified, resulting in the worst confrontation between Israel and Palestine since 2014. During Ramadan, Israeli police raided Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites, and fired rubber-coated bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades at worshipers. Israel’s actions were interpreted as revenge for Palestinian demonstrations against forcible evictions of a number of families from their homes.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas, which governs Gaza, has set a deadline of 10.30 p.m. IST for Israeli forces to leave Al-Aqsa and Sheikh Jarrah. Soon after, Hamas launched rockets from Gaza at Israel.
A long-running legal case over whether many Palestinian families will be evicted from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah, a neighbourhood near Damascus Gate that was granted to Israeli settlers, is at the centre of the dispute, with a hearing scheduled for May 10th.
As the court date approached, Palestinians and left-wing Israelis started holding larger protests, claiming that further evictions could cause a domino effect throughout the predominantly Palestinian neighbourhood.
The revived tensions sparked by the Supreme Court case is a continuation of a long-running dispute in which Israel, which annexed East Jerusalem in 1967, sees the entire city as its capital, while Palestinians want the eastern portion to be the capital of a future state. The international community has generally ignored Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem.
Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, as well as the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site, are all located in the neighbourhood.
