GAZA: Israel bombarded Gaza with air strikes and Palestinian fighters resumed cross-border rocket fire on Tuesday after a brief overnight lull during which the United Nations sent a small fuel convoy into the enclave, where it says 52,000 people are now displaced.
Israeli leaders said they were pressing on with an offensive to destroy the capabilities of the armed factions Hamas and Islamic Jihad, amid calls by the United States and other world powers for an end to the violence.
Two Thai workers were killed and seven people wounded in a rocket strike on an Israeli farm just over the Gaza border, police said. Gaza’s ruling Hamas group and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the strike.
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May. 19, 2021 7:05 AM
At least 210 Palestinians had been killed as of Tuesday, among them 59 children and who knows how many women and elderly people. Thirteen people have been killed in Israel, among them Yigal Yehoshua, who died after being attacked by Israeli Arabs.
When will the next round be? How many Palestinian children and women will be killed then? This is the strategy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Chief of General Staff Aviv Kochavi: Firing at densely populated areas, which necessarily leads to the killing of innocents.
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel s US correspondent based in New York
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and US Vice-President Joe Biden speak in front of media prior to a meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 21, 2016. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
US President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a Wednesday phone call that he expects “a significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire,” as Washington stepped up pressure on Jerusalem to end the fighting in the Gaza Strip after 10 days.
During their fourth call since the start of the Gaza conflict, “the two leaders had a detailed discussion on the state of events in Gaza, Israel’s progress in degrading the capabilities of Hamas and other terrorist elements, and ongoing diplomatic efforts by regional governments and the United States,” according to a White House readout.
Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas May Both Emerge as Winners of Latest Violence
On 5/19/21 at 10:54 AM EDT
As the cycle of Israeli-Palestinian death and destruction continues, and civilians suffer the worst consequences, the violence may ultimately boost the political fortunes of both Hamas and embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Both Hamas and Netanyahu are accused of sharpening an intractable cycle of violence and reprisal. The latest round of violence in the Palestinian Gaza Strip has left hundreds dead and more than a thousand people injured. Ten have died in rocket attacks.
The infrastructure in the blockaded coastal enclave was ruined in previous strikes and has been degraded further by the latest Israeli bombs. Many people were left homeless by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) airstrikes.
Palestinians assess the damage caused by Israeli air strikes, in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, on May 14, 2021. (Photo: Mohammed Al-Masri/APA Images)
As a married Jewish couple living in South Bend, Indiana, we try to ground our lives in the best values of our tradition. That’s why we participate in our synagogue, why we celebrate the Sabbath, and why we keep a kosher (and vegan) kitchen. It’s also why we both chose to be public school teachers and recently taught to our students the history of the Holocaust and the importance of speaking out against injustice. And it’s why we chose, on this year’s Nakba Day, which fell not just on Shabbat but also several days into Israel’s latest war on the people of Gaza, to pray for Palestine outside the gates of our local Jewish Federation. We recited a prayer for peace and added a new line: “May Palestinian-led struggle, including BDS, swiftly and peacefully replace Israeli apartheid with full equality and make the Ri