Death toll of Palestinians from Israeli air strikes on Gaza reaches 36
By
Wednesday May 12, 2021
Palestinian Muslims evacuate a building targeted by Israeli bombardment in Gaza City on May 11, 2021. Photo: AFP
36 Palestinians killed, scores injured in Gaza as violence from Israel escalates
Cost of war in Gaza is devastating and is being paid by ordinary people, says UN Middle East peace envoy.
Amnesty International says Israel using unlawful force; UN deeply concerned over escalation in violence.
Hostilities between Israel and Hamas escalated overnight, with at least 36 Palestine Muslims killed in Gaza and five people killed in Israel in the most intensive aerial exchanges for years.
It was the heaviest offensive between Israel and Hamas since a 2014 war in Gaza and prompted international concern that the situation could spiral out of control.
Weeks of tensions between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces in East Jerusalem have boiled over in recent days, unleashing some of the worst violence between Israel and the Palestinians in years.
Israeli airstrikes in Gaza have left 30 Palestinians dead, including ten children, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promising not to ease up anytime soon. Palestinians militants, meanwhile, have launched hundreds of missiles into Israel, killing three people.
Ostensibly, the rocket launches by Hamas were a response to Israeli police storming the al-Aqsa mosque compound in East Jerusalem on Laylat al-Qadr, the Night of Power, one of the holiest nights of the year for Muslims. The incident injured hundreds over the weekend.