Israel slammed the Gaza Strip with airstrikes on Saturday, in a dramatic escalation that included bombing the home of a senior Hamas leader, killing a family of 10 in a refugee camp most of them children and pulverizing a high-rise that housed The Associated Press and other media.
2021-05-15 22:36:10 GMT2021-05-16 06:36:10(Beijing Time) Xinhua English
WASHINGTON, May 15 (Xinhua) U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday expressed concerns about the escalating conflict in separate phone calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Biden voiced concerns about violent confrontations in the West Bank and shared his grave concern about the intercommunal violence across Israel, according to a White House readout of Biden s call with Netanyahu.
He also raised concerns about the safety and security of journalists and reinforced the need to ensure their protection, likely referring to an airstrike carried out by the Israeli military earlier in the day that destroyed a building housing international news organizations in Gaza.
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Israeli strike destroys Gaza building with AP, other media
The building housing the offices of The Associated Press and other media in Gaza City collapses after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike Saturday, May 15, 2021. The attack came roughly an hour after the Israeli military warned people to evacuate the building, which also housed Al-Jazeera and a number of offices and apartments. There was no immediate explanation for why the building was targeted. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
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May. 15, 2021 5:16 PM
After strenuous efforts – Israel has finally found a victory image around which it is possible to construct a justification for a ceasefire to end the fighting in the Gaza Strip. A successful Israel Defense Forces operation in which the elaborately ramified Hamas underground tunnel systems have been damaged is being leveraged in two directions – first, for the Israeli public, in order to convince it that we have won the battle against Hamas; and secondly, vis-à-vis Hamas, so that it will agree to a truce.
However, until a ceasefire agreement is achieved, the tension is spilling over into additional arenas: Lebanon (where an Hezbollah activist who crossed the border has been killed), Syria (from which three rockets have been fired into the Golan Heights) and the West Bank (where 11 Palestinians have been killed by IDF fire). The air force, for now, is continuing attacks in the Gaza Strip. As