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Israeli warplanes attacked multiple targets in Gaza overnight as Israel continued its assault on Palestinian militants despite growing international calls for a ceasefire to end the nine-day conflict.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that the offensive against Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza, “will continue for as long as it takes to restore calm to all Israeli citizens.”
The Israeli military said 52 fighter jets dropped about 120 bombs on raids overnight, which they said targeted the tunnel infrastructure used by militants, which Israel suppresses the “Gaza subway.”
Israeli strikes have killed 217 Palestinians, including 63 children, since May 10, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Israeli army officials said 130 of the dead were Hamas fighters and disputed, without evidence, that Gazan estimates that nearly half of the dead were women and children.
Israel has reported that 12 Israelis have been killed by Hamas attacks, including two children. Two Thai workers were killed when rockets from Gaza attacked southern Israel on Tuesday.
Hamas has launched more than 3,400 rockets at Israeli cities since the fighting began on May 10.
The Israeli bombing of Gaza has forced tens of thousands of Palestinians on the walled strip to flee their homes as homes, health facilities, schools and businesses have been destroyed or damaged.
Nearly 50,000 Palestinians have been forced to seek refuge in schools run by the UN refugee agency.
UN agencies said 156 buildings, comprising 672 homes and commercial units, had been destroyed in Gaza. According to the document, hundreds more houses have been severely damaged and left uninhabitable.
Six hospitals and 11 primary care centers were also damaged, while another hospital was down due to a lack of electricity for the third day in a row.
The UN and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights said the only Covid-19 laboratory in the strip was no longer able to perform tests due to an Israeli air strike near the Gaza Ministry of Health and a clinic.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has warned that “given the impact on the lives of civilians and on civilian infrastructure, including humanitarian organizations and medical facilities, the incident raises serious concerns about a possible indiscriminate and disproportionate attack under international humanitarian law. ” according to a UN status report.
Aid workers in the impoverished and densely populated strip of 2 million people fear the death toll will rise as rescue workers struggle to remove the dead and wounded from under the rubble mounds.
As death and destruction have increased, diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire have intensified.
U.S. President Joe Biden publicly backed international calls for a ceasefire this week after speaking with Netanyahu on Monday. The US president has faced rising US criticism progressives, included within his own Democratic party, which wants the administration to put more pressure to stop hostilities.
“The president expressed his support for the ceasefire and discussed the U.S. commitment to Egypt and other partners to that end,” according to a reading of the White House call.
Biden also “encouraged Israel to make every effort to ensure the protection of innocent civilians.”
The USA locked a statement from the UN Security Council on Monday calling for de-escalation, cessation of violence and respect for international law, according to two UN diplomats.
EU foreign ministers also called for an end to hostilities at an informal meeting on Tuesday.
Josep Borrell, head of the bloc’s policy, said all member states but Hungary supported the “general trend” of a joint statement urging an immediate end to violence and the implementation of a ceasefire. fire.
The unrest has spread to the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces killed at least four Palestinians on Tuesday, according to local health officials, including three in Ramallah, where new protests erupted.
The Israeli army said its forces shot a Palestinian in Hebron, who was said to have attacked soldiers with an explosive device and a knife.
Israeli police said two security forces were shot in the leg during the Ramallah protests, the first such incident in the West Bank in years. The city is home to Fatah, Hamas’ rival Palestinian faction.
The Israeli army has killed more than 20 Palestinians in the territory since protests erupted in the West Bank on Friday, Palestinian health officials said.
The latest crisis erupted when police used rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades against Palestinians protesting restrictions on the grounds of the al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site. More than 600 Palestinians were injured. The mosque is located in an enclosure in Jerusalem known to Muslims as Haram ash-Sharif and to Jews as Temple Mount, and is sacred to both religions.
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