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Gaza militants on Tuesday fired dozens of rockets into southern Israel, killing a man during a strike on a residential building, and warning that they would step up their attacks if Israel continued to bomb targets in the Gaza Strip. Gaza.
The cross-border attacks, triggered by a botched Israeli secret attack on Hamas-ruled Gaza last Sunday, were the most serious escalation since the war between Israel and Hamas in 2014.
International mediators have called for restraint, hoping to avoid another war.
The Israeli army said some 400 rockets and mortar shells had been launched from Gaza since the start of the current round on Monday, after being intercepted by a hundred of them by the Israeli Iron Defense System. Dome.
Israel has hit more than 100 targets that would be linked to militants in Gaza, including a strike that destroyed the Hamas television channel, the Islamist militant group that runs Gaza.
On Tuesday, Gaza's health ministry announced that two Palestinians in their 20s had been killed in separate air strikes, bringing to six the number of people killed since the start of the Israeli offensive, including four activists. . At least 25 people were injured.
Israeli medical officials said a 48-year-old man was found Tuesday morning under the rubble of a rocket-hit building in the city of Ashkelon, in the south of the country. Relatives of Halhoul in the West Bank identified this man as Mahmoud Abu Usbeh, a Palestinian worker who worked in Israel. He left a woman and six children behind him.
"Everyone in the city is sad, it is the will of God and we can not do anything about it," said his cousin, Jihad Abu Usbeh.
At least 20 people were also injured in Israel, including three seriously, according to medical officials.
The military said jet planes hit several "strategic" Hamas targets, including military bases, rocket launchers and part of its extensive network of underground tunnels. A building in Gaza City serving Hamas military and intelligence forces, housing an ammunition depot, was also targeted.
The armed wing of Hamas has threatened to intensify its attacks and fire rockets farther north towards the Israeli cities of Ashdod and Beersheba if Israel continues its airstrikes.
The spokesman for the Hamas military wing, identified only as Abu Obeida, said that the deadly attack against the coastal city of Ashkelon showed that the city "has entered the firing zone in response to the bombing of buildings in Gaza ". He added that Ashdod and Beersheba are the next targets if the enemy continues to bomb civilian buildings.
The school was canceled in large parts of southern Israel and local elections were postponed due to the threat of further attacks.
Over the last few months, the parties have come together several times for a major escalation, with the sole purpose of taking a step back to give a chance to a long-term Egyptian mediation truce.
However, the current level of escalation and angry rhetoric, including Hamas warnings to strike deeper inside Israel, could make it more difficult to restore calm.
The Israeli security cabinet has begun to meet to discuss next steps, while the United Nations called for calm and said they were trying to negotiate a ceasefire.
The eruption of fighting has cast doubt on recent agreements negotiated by the Egyptian and US authorities to reduce tensions. Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended these agreements, saying he was doing everything possible to avoid another war. But it will now be under intense pressure to retaliate, given relentless Hamas rocket dams.
The rocket fire was triggered by a failed raid by the Israeli army in Gaza on Sunday. Infiltration troops, apparently on a reconnaissance mission, were discovered inside Gaza, triggering a battle that claimed the lives of seven militants, including a Hamas commander and a senior official in charge of the Gaza Strip. 39, Israeli army. Hamas then fired a guided missile that struck a bus from which the soldiers had just landed, an upgrade from its generally inaccurate projectiles.
The strike set the bus on fire, sending a large plume of black smoke over the area. A 19-year-old soldier was seriously injured. Rocket fire and Israeli retaliation fired quickly.
The airstrikes and rocket dams resumed Tuesday at dawn after almost two hours of calm.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an army spokesman, said that Israeli fighter jets, tanks and warships were involved in strikes against military complexes, police stations, and military operations. observation and weapons facilities belonging to the two main militant groups in Gaza at the origin of the attacks – Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
He added that the Israeli army had reinforced its deployment along the border but had not yet mobilized its reserves. He added that militant groups in Gaza would have an arsenal of more than 20,000 rockets and mortars of different calibres and ranges.
In Gaza, schools and public institutions were closed, and people ventured outside to inspect the damage after a long night of air raids. Near the destroyed TV channel, residents recovered papers and belongings from their damaged homes. Debris was scattered in the streets and broken windows under people's feet.
In the Rimal district of Gaza City, a six-storey residential building with a children's garden on the ground floor was destroyed.
"All the people here are civilians, children and families, we took our children and fled from here, and when we returned we saw great destruction," said Mamdouh al-Shurafa, a resident. from the building. "When we are bombed in the center of the city, where can we go?"
Israel and Hamas have waged three wars since the Islamic militant group took control of Gaza over the Palestinian Authority, backed by the international community, in 2007. During the last war, more than 2,200 Palestinians have been killed, more than half of whom are civilians and tens of thousands of others. left homeless. Seventy-three people, most of them soldiers, were killed on the Israeli side.
Israel and Egypt have maintained a blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized power, a blockade that devastated Gaza's economy.
In recent weeks, Egyptian and US mediators appeared to be making progress in negotiating informal settlements to calm the situation.
Last week, Israel allowed Qatar to pay $ 15 million to Gaza to allow Hamas run out of money to pay the salaries of thousands of government employees. At the same time, Hamas has reduced the intensity of its border demonstrations in recent weeks.
Netanyahu interrupted a visit to Paris because of the outbreak and returned to Israel on Monday for consultations with senior security officials.
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