An Israeli
firefighter walks
next to cars hit by
a missile fired from
Gaza Strip, in the
southern Israeli
town of Ashkelon,
Tuesday, May 11,
2021. (AP
Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Mourners
chant
Islamic
slogans
while
they
carry
the body
of Amira
Soboh,
and her
19-year-old
disabled
son
Abdelrahman,
who were
killed
in
Israeli
airstrikes
at their
apartment
building,
during
their
funeral
at the
Shati
refugee
camp, in
Gaza
City,
Tuesday,
May 11,
2021.
(AP
Photo/Adel
Hana)
Israel,
Hamas
trade
deadly
fire as
confrontation
escalates By
FARES
AKRAM
and
JOSEF
FEDERMAN
apnews.com
GAZA
CITY,
Gaza
Strip -
A
confrontation
between
Israel
and
Hamas
sparked
by weeks
of
tensions
in
contested
Jerusalem
escalated
Tuesday
as
Israel
unleashed
new
airstrikes
on Gaza
while
militants
barraged
Israel
with
hundreds
of
rockets.
The
exchange
killed a
number
of
militants
and
civilians
in Gaza
and at
least
three
Israelis.
The
barrage
of
rockets
from the
Gaza
Strip
and
airstrikes
into the
territory
continued
almost
nonstop
throughout
the day,
in what
appeared
to be
some of
the most
intense
fighting
between
Israel
and
Hamas
since
their
2014
war. The
fire was
so
relentless
that
Israel’s
Iron
Dome
rocket-defense
system
seemed
to be
overwhelmed.
Columns
of smoke
rose
from
many
places
in Gaza.
By
late
Tuesday,
the
violence
extended
to Tel
Aviv,
which
came
under
fire
from a
barrage
of
rockets
launched
from the
Gaza
Strip. A
50-year-old
woman
was
killed.
The
outgoing
volleys
set off
air raid
sirens
across
the
city,
and the
main
international
airport
quickly
closed.
Hamas
said it
launched
a total
of 130
rockets,
its most
intense
strike
so far,
in
response
to
Israel’s
destruction
of a
high-rise
building
in Gaza
earlier
in the
evening.
The
sound of
the
outgoing
rockets
could be
heard in
Gaza. As
the
rockets
rose
into the
skies,
mosques
across
Gaza
blared
with
chants
of “God
is
great,”
“victory
to
Islam”
and
“resistance.”
One
rocket
struck a
bus in
the
central
city of
Holon,
just
south of
Tel
Aviv.
Medics
said
three
people,
including
a
5-year-old
girl,
were
wounded
and the
bus went
up in
flames.
Since
sundown
Monday,
28
Palestinians
—
including
10
children
and a
woman—
were
killed
in Gaza,
most by
airstrikes,
health
officials
there
said.
The
Israeli
military
said at
least 16
of the
dead
were
militants.
Two
women
were
killed
by
rockets
fired
from
Gaza
that hit
their
homes in
the
southern
city of
Ashkelon
— the
first
Israeli
deaths
in the
current
violence.
At least
10 other
Israelis
have
been
wounded
since
Monday
evening.
After
those
deaths,
Israeli
Prime
Minister
Benjamin
Netanyahu
said
officials
decided
to
“increase
both the
strength
and rate
of the
strikes”
against
militant
groups
Hamas
and
Islamic
Jihad in
the Gaza
Strip.
Egyptian
officials
said
they
were
trying
to
broker a
cease-fire,
but the
cycle of
violence
was
gaining
momentum.
Even
before
the two
Israeli
deaths,
the
Israeli
military
said it
was
sending
troop
reinforcements
to the
Gaza
border,
and the
defense
minister
ordered
the
mobilization
of 5,000
reserve
soldiers.
Lt.
Col.
Jonathan
Conricus,
a
military
spokesman,
told
reporters
that
Israel
was
beefing
up
defensive
forces
on the
border
to
prevent
possible
infiltrations
and
increasing
its
offensive
forces
as well,
primarily
in the
air.
He
said the
objective
was to
send a
“clear
message”
to
Hamas.
The
barrage
of
rockets
and
airstrikes
was
preceded
by hours
of
clashes
Monday
between
Palestinians
and
Israeli
security
forces,
including
dramatic
confrontations
at
Jerusalem’s
Al-Aqsa
Mosque
compound,
a sacred
site to
both
Jews and
Muslims.
The
current
violence,
like
previous
rounds,
including
the last
intifada,
or
uprising,
has been
fueled
by
conflicting
claims
over
Jerusalem,
which is
at the
emotional
core of
the long
conflict.
In a
sign of
widening
unrest,
hundreds
of
residents
of Arab
communities
across
Israel
staged
overnight
demonstrations
denouncing
the
recent
actions
of
Israeli
security
forces
against
Palestinians.
It was
one of
the
largest
protests
by
Palestinian
citizens
in
Israel
in
recent
years.
In
the
central
Israeli
town of
Lod,
police
fired
tear gas
and stun
grenades
after
mourners
threw
rocks at
officers
during
the
funeral
of an
Arab man
allegedly
shot to
death by
a Jewish
resident
the
night
before.
Thousands
took
part in
the
funeral,
and
police
said the
crowd
set fire
to a
patrol
car, a
bus and
a
motorcycle.
Two
police
officers
were
injured.
Israel
and
Hamas
have
fought
three
wars and
numerous
skirmishes
since
the
militant
group
seized
control
of Gaza
in 2007.
Recent
rounds
of
fighting
have
usually
ended
after a
few
days,
often
helped
by
mediation
by
Qatar,
Egypt
and
others.
Israel
carried
out
dozens
of
airstrikes,
including
two that
targeted
high-rise
apartment
buildings
where
militants
were
believed
to be
hiding.
One
strike
demolished
a
12-story
building
in Gaza
City
that
housed
the
offices
of top
Hamas
officials.
Israeli
drones
fired a
series
of
warning
shots at
the roof
to give
people
time to
leave
the
building
before
it was
destroyed.
There
were no
immediate
reports
of
casualties.
At
midday,
an
airstrike
hit a
building
in
central
Gaza
City,
sending
terrified
residents
running
into the
street,
including
women
and
barefoot
children.
The
Islamic
Jihad
militant
group
confirmed
that the
strike
killed
three of
its
commanders.
Another
strike
hit a
high-rise
as
people
were
conducting
dawn
prayers,
killing
a woman,
her
19-year-old
disabled
son and
another
man,
residents
said.
Health
officials
confirmed
the
deaths.
The
Gaza
Health
Ministry
said 28
people,
including
10
children
and the
woman,
have
been
killed
and 152
wounded.
Ashraf
al-Kidra,
a
spokesman
for the
ministry,
said
Israel’s
“relentless
assault”
was
overwhelming
the
health
care
system,
which
has been
struggling
with a
COVID-19
outbreak.
The
escalation
comes at
a time
of
political
limbo in
Israel.
Netanyahu
has been
caretaker
prime
minister
since an
inconclusive
parliamentary
election
in
March.
He
failed
to form
a
coalition
government
with his
hard-line
and
ultra-Orthodox
allies,
and the
task was
handed
to his
political
rivals
last
week.
One
of those
rivals
is
Israel’s
defense
minister,
who is
overseeing
the Gaza
campaign.
It was
not
clear
whether
the
political
atmosphere
was
spilling
over
into
military
decision-making,
though
the
rival
camps
have
unanimously
expressed
support
for
striking
Hamas
hard.
The
support
of an
Arab-backed
party
with
Islamist
roots is
key for
the
anti-Netanyahu
bloc.
But the
current
tensions
might
deter
the
party’s
leader,
Mansour
Abbas,
from
joining
a
coalition
for now.
The
sides
have
three
more
weeks to
reach a
deal.
The
current
violence
in
Jerusalem
coincided
with the
start of
the
Muslim
fasting
month of
Ramadan
in
mid-April.
Critics
say
heavy-handed
police
measures
helped
stoke
nightly
unrest,
including
a
decision
to
temporarily
seal off
a
popular
gathering
spot
where
Palestinian
residents
would
meet
after
evening
prayers.
Another
flashpoint
was the
east
Jerusalem
neighborhood
of
Sheikh
Jarrah,
where
dozens
of
Palestinians
are
under
threat
of
eviction
by
Jewish
settlers.
Over
the
weekend,
confrontations
erupted
at the
Al-Aqsa
Mosque
compound,
which is
the
third
holiest
site of
Islam
and the
holiest
site in
Judaism.
Over
several
days,
Israel
police
fired
tear
gas,
stun
grenades
and
rubber
bullets
at
Palestinians
in the
compound
who
hurled
stones
and
chairs.
At
times,
police
fired
stun
grenades
into the
carpeted
mosque.
On
Monday
evening,
Hamas
began
firing
rockets
from
Gaza.
From
there
on, the
escalation
was
rapid.
Gaza
militants
fired
more
than 500
rockets
at
Israel,
with
about
one-third
falling
short
and
landing
in Gaza,
Conricus
said.
At
midday,
a
barrage
of some
10
rockets
whizzed
above
the
southern
city of
Ashdod,
filling
the
skies
with
streaks
of white
smoke.
A
rocket
that hit
an
apartment
building
in
Ashkelon
injured
six
people,
according
to
Israeli
paramedic
service
Magen
David
Adom. A
building
in
Ashdod
was also
hit,
lightly
wounding
four,
Israeli
police
said.
The
military
hit 130
targets
in Gaza,
including
two
tunnels
militants
were
digging
under
the
border
with
Israel,
Conricus
said. He
did not
address
Gaza
Health
Ministry
reports
about
the dead
children.
In
Gaza,
most of
the
deaths
were
attributed
to
airstrikes.
However,
seven of
the
deaths
were
members
of a
single
family,
including
three
children,
who died
in an
explosion
in the
northern
Gaza
town of
Beit
Hanoun.
It was
not
clear if
the
blast
was
caused
by an
Israeli
airstrike
or
errant
rocket.
Dozens
of
mourners
took
part in
the
funeral
of
Hussein
Hamad,
an
11-year-old
boy who
was
among
the
dead.
Israel
struck
scores
of Gaza
homes in
its 2014
war with
Hamas,
arguing
it was
aiming
at
militants,
but also
killing
many
civilians.
The
practice
drew
broad
international
condemnation
at the
time.
Israel’s
latest
tactics
in
Jerusalem
have
drawn
angry
reactions
from
leaders
from the
Arab and
Muslim
world.
___
Federman
reported
from
Jerusalem.
Associated
Press
writers
Karin
Laub in
the West
Bank,
Ilan Ben
Zion in
Jerusalem
and Samy
Magdy in
Cairo
contributed.