Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Deadliest Israel-Gaza attack leaves more dead, ceasefire attempts fail

To the outside world, the images of rocket fire, shelling and angry protests this week in the Middle East might seem familiar. For people in Israel, and especially in the Gaza Strip, they are nothing more than routine.

Families once again fled or found themselves homeless, heartbroken parents mourned dead children and journalists evacuated offices before they were destroyed, as the Islamic group Hamas and the Israeli army tried to do as much damage to each other as they could this week, before the fighting intensified or they were pressured to reach a ceasefire.

Palestinians checking their destroyed homes after overnight airstrikes on the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, Friday, May 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

The vast majority of the dead were on the side of Gaza, a Hamas-controlled territory: 145 people, including 41 children and 23 women, had died by Saturday night, according to the Health Ministry in the cramped and crowded territory where two million Palestinians live. Among the dead were a family of six killed on Friday and 10 members of the same family on Saturday.

In Israel, where towns with mixed Arab and Jewish populations have recorded civilian-on-civilian violence every night, people have been killed, including children under 10 in Gaza, and dozens of Palestinian minors in the West Bank and Jerusalem have been injured, UNICEF's regional director reported Saturday.

"The scale of the violence is enormous. Children are bearing the brunt of this escalation," said UNICEF regional director Ted Chaiban. "All sides need to step back and put an end to the violence."

Violence erupted in Jerusalem a month ago amid police operations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a frequent hotbed of tensions built on a site revered by Jews and Muslims. Tension was mounting in East Jerusalem as Palestinians protested efforts by Israeli settlers to evict several families from their homes.

Palestinians clash with Israeli security forces at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City area, Monday, May 10, 2021. Israeli police clash with Palestinian protesters at the compound on Monday. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

On Monday night, Hamas fired rockets into Jerusalem in an apparent attempt to portray itself as a champion of the protesters. Israel responded with aerial bombardment and then deployed tanks and fighter jets, as the Islamist group fired hundreds of rockets across the border.

The escalation has raised fears of a new intifada, or Palestinian uprising. The West Bank saw the most widespread protests since 2017. In at least nine towns, hundreds of people burned tires and threw stones at Israeli troops, who responded with their weapons.

An Israeli artillery unit fires at targets in the Gaza Strip, on Israel's border with Gaza, Wednesday, May 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Yonatan Sindel)

As the United Nations Security Council prepared to address the situation on Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces set their sights on a new target. An Israeli airstrike on Saturday afternoon destroyed a 12-story building in Gaza housing the offices of The Associated Press, Al-Jazeera television and other media outlets.

The attack affected international coverage of the conflict, an outcome that some media organizations suspected was deliberate.

An Israeli airstrike hits the building housing the offices of The Associated Press in Gaza City, Saturday, May 15, 2021. Saturday's airstrike came about an hour after the Israeli Army ordered the evacuation of the building. The building contained the offices of AP, Al-Jazeera and other offices and apartments. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

Israel denounces heaviest wave of shooting from Gaza
Since last Monday, Israel has attacked more than 650 targets in the strip in response to the firing of more than 3,000 rockets into Israeli territory by Hamas and Islamic Jihad militiamen.

As denounced by the Israeli Army, it is the most intense wave of firing from Gaza that the country suffers in its history, with a higher percentage of launches than the wars of 2014, 2012 or 2008-09

Rockets launched from the Gaza Strip fly toward Israel, Monday, May 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

No progress in the Security Council
Attempts to stop the escalation of violence by the United Nations have not been fruitful. This Sunday its Security Council met again but no progress has been made.

"The carnage has continued today. This senseless cycle of bloodshed, terror and destruction must end immediately," warned UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres at the opening of the meeting, amid fears that the explosion of violence will provoke "an uncontrollable crisis of security and humanity."

Mourners react at a hospital next to the body of a man killed in an explosion in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya, Monday, May 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Mohammed Ali)

For his part, Pope Francis on Sunday called for an end to the "terrible and unacceptable" violence in the region and called for Palestinians and Israelis to return, with the help of the international community, to the path of dialogue.

"Numerous people have been injured and many innocent people have been killed, including children. This is terrible and unacceptable, their death is a demonstration that they do not want to build a future, but want to destroy."

Palestinians attend the funeral for two women and eight children from the Abu Hatab family in Gaza City, who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, Saturday, May 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Meanwhile, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, has announced in a tweet the convening for next Tuesday of an extraordinary meeting of EU foreign ministers to discuss the current crisis, given "the unacceptable number of civilian casualties". At the meeting, the ministers "will coordinate and discuss how the EU can best contribute to putting an end to the current violence," added the European bloc's top diplomat.

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