Featured Israel-Palestinian Conflict Resurgence 2021: Al-Aqsa attacks, riots, rockets, military clashes and Jerusalem conflict
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Radical Rabbi's Followers Rise in Israel Amid New Violence
JERUSALEM (AP) — In the 1980s, Rabbi Meir Kahane's violent anti-Arab ideology was considered so repugnant that Israel banned him from parliament and the U.S. listed his party as a terrorist group.
© Israeli paramilitary border police officers stand guard as Jewish right-wing demonstrators demand the release of three Jews arrested in the shooting death of Mousa Hasoona, outside the District Court in Lod, Israel, Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Police say Hasoona was with a group of Arab rioters threatening Jewish homes, an account disputed by Lod's Arab residents. (AP Photo/Heidi Levine) - The Associated Press
JERUSALEM (AP) — In the 1980s, Rabbi Meir Kahane's violent anti-Arab ideology was considered so repugnant that Israel banned him from parliament and the U.S. listed his party as a terrorist group.
Today, his disciples march through the streets by the hundreds, chanting “Death to Arabs” and assaulting any they come across. This week, they took part in a wave of communal violence in Jerusalem and mixed cities across Israel in which Arabs and Jews viciously attacked people and torched cars.
On Thursday evening, there was more ethnic strife. In Tel Aviv, two Jewish men attacked a journalist covering a gathering of ultranationalists. In the central Israeli city of Lod, a Jewish man was shot and seriously wounded by an Arab man. In Jaffa, an Israeli soldier was attacked by a group of Arabs and was hospitalized in serious condition.
Israelis shocked by the violence have cast the right-wing extremism as a nasty aberration or a reaction to Palestinian violence. But to Arab citizens, who make up 20% of Israel's population, the heirs of Kahane are a natural outgrowth of a discriminatory system — normalized by some mainstream leaders who largely share their views.
Admirers of Kahane were elected to parliament in March as allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, and one of the most prominent has become a fixture on Israeli TV.
Their resurgence has injected another element of volatility to the conflict. It's also part of a broader shift to the right in Israel, where Kahane's disciples are hardly alone in adopting a hard line toward the Palestinians and trafficking in anti-Arab rhetoric.
Right-wing parties that support Jewish settlements and oppose Palestinian independence won a large majority of seats in March, and Netanyahu and other right-wing leaders have often cast Israel's Arab minority as a fifth column — unless they needed their votes.
During his lone term in parliament in the mid-1980s, before he was banned, Kahane was shunned by colleagues, including the Likud, and frequently gave speeches to an empty chamber. His racist agenda called for banning intermarriage between Arabs and Jews, stripping Arabs of their Israeli citizenship, and the mass expulsions of Palestinians. At one point, he was suspended for waving a noose at an Arab lawmaker.
Kahane was banned from running in 1988, and two years later, he was assassinated by an Egyptian-American in New York. But his hate-filled ideology has remained influential in Israel.
In 1994, Kahane follower Baruch Goldstein opened fire in a holy site in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, killing 29 Muslim worshippers and wounding over 100. That led both Israel and the U.S. to label his Kach movement and an offshoot, Kahane Lives, as terrorist groups.
In March, another admirer of the late rabbi, who for years had hung a picture of Goldstein on his living room wall, was elected to Israel's parliament.
Itamar Ben-Gvir joined the Knesset as part of Religious Zionism, a bloc of far-right parties that came together at Netanyahu's prodding so none would fall below the electoral threshold.
Since then, Ben-Gvir has made frequent media appearances, displaying a cheerful demeanor and a knack for deflecting criticism as he banters with TV and radio hosts.
It's working: Ifat, a research firm, says Ben-Gvir is the third most interviewed politician on Israeli TV and radio, behind Netanyahu and Naftali Bennett, another right-wing politician.
“He’s a good speaker and he knows how to play the game,” said Shuki Friedman, an expert on Israel’s far right at the Israel Democracy Institute. “On one hand, he is addressing his supporters. ... On the other hand, he knows not to make mainstream Israelis too angry.”
He has staged provocative visits to Arab areas and been a near-constant presence on the sidelines of recent clashes, rallying ultranationalist supporters to confront Palestinians and assert “Jewish Power” — the name of his party.
Last week, he set up an outdoor parliamentary “office” in an Arab neighborhood of east Jerusalem where Jewish settlers are trying to expel Palestinians from their homes, setting off a melee. He later called for police to use live fire against Palestinian protesters at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a site sacred to Jews and Muslims.
A long-range Hamas rocket, fired at Jerusalem on Monday, disrupted the Jerusalem Day parade, which celebrates Israel’s annexation of east Jerusalem.
The mob violence erupted the next day. A Telegram channel displaying the Kahanist emblem — a yellow fist inside a black Star of David — swelled from a few hundred members to more than 6,000.
It was used to organize a crowd in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam on Wednesday that pulled an Arab from his car and beat him severely. The attack horrified Israelis and was widely condemned, including by far-right politicians. Israeli media reported the country's police chief blamed Ben-Gvir for inciting a Jewish “intifada,” the Arabic term used to refer to two Palestinian uprisings.
As a lawyer with a long history of defending Jewish extremists accused of attacking Arabs, Ben-Gvir has been careful not to run afoul of laws against incitement. He calls Kahane "righteous and holy," but has tried to distance himself by saying he doesn't agree with everything the rabbi said.
Ben-Gvir first became a national figure when he famously broke a hood ornament off then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s car in 1995.
“We got to his car, and we'll get to him too,” he said, just weeks before Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish extremist opposed to his peace efforts with the Palestinians.
Israel has shifted even more to the right since then, driven by the failure of peace efforts, repeated rounds of violence and demographic shifts. Ben-Gvir’s supporters are largely religious and ultra-Orthodox Jews, who tend to have large families.
Netanyahu hoped to tap into that by assembling a far-right bloc with Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, another ultranationalist. Ironically, they foiled Netanyahu's plan by blocking his outreach to a small Arab party needed to secure a parliamentary majority.
Dan Meridor, a former justice minister and Likud heavyweight who helped lead efforts to ban Kahane from parliament in 1988, believes Netanyahu made a grave error in rehabilitating his followers.
“You can just see the dramatic and very harmful change the Likud went through when they legitimized the Kahanists,” he said. “It changed very tragically to me.”
Palestinian citizens of Israel, on the other hand, view Ben-Gvir as the latest in a long line of Israeli politicians — including Netanyahu — who have treated them as second-class citizens, if not enemies of the state. It's one of many grievances they point to in explaining the recent protests and clashes with police.
Diana Buttu, a lawyer and analyst who is a Palestinian citizen of Israel, says it's easy for Israelis to dismiss the Kahanists as a fringe group.
"But if you step back and look at this country through the eyes of a Palestinian, you see that at every single political level, in every single political party, there’s been some form of anti-Palestinian racism.”
JERUSALEM (AP) — In the 1980s, Rabbi Meir Kahane's violent anti-Arab ideology was considered so repugnant that Israel banned him from parliament and the U.S. listed his party as a terrorist group.
JERUSALEM (AP) — In the 1980s, Rabbi Meir Kahane's violent anti-Arab ideology was considered so repugnant that Israel banned him from parliament and the U.S. listed his party as a terrorist group.
Today, his disciples march through the streets by the hundreds, chanting “Death to Arabs” and assaulting any they come across. This week, they took part in a wave of communal violence in Jerusalem and mixed cities across Israel in which Arabs and Jews viciously attacked people and torched cars.
On Thursday evening, there was more ethnic strife. In Tel Aviv, two Jewish men attacked a journalist covering a gathering of ultranationalists. In the central Israeli city of Lod, a Jewish man was shot and seriously wounded by an Arab man. In Jaffa, an Israeli soldier was attacked by a group of Arabs and was hospitalized in serious condition.
Israelis shocked by the violence have cast the right-wing extremism as a nasty aberration or a reaction to Palestinian violence. But to Arab citizens, who make up 20% of Israel's population, the heirs of Kahane are a natural outgrowth of a discriminatory system — normalized by some mainstream leaders who largely share their views.
Admirers of Kahane were elected to parliament in March as allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, and one of the most prominent has become a fixture on Israeli TV.
Their resurgence has injected another element of volatility to the conflict. It's also part of a broader shift to the right in Israel, where Kahane's disciples are hardly alone in adopting a hard line toward the Palestinians and trafficking in anti-Arab rhetoric.
Right-wing parties that support Jewish settlements and oppose Palestinian independence won a large majority of seats in March, and Netanyahu and other right-wing leaders have often cast Israel's Arab minority as a fifth column — unless they needed their votes.
During his lone term in parliament in the mid-1980s, before he was banned, Kahane was shunned by colleagues, including the Likud, and frequently gave speeches to an empty chamber. His racist agenda called for banning intermarriage between Arabs and Jews, stripping Arabs of their Israeli citizenship, and the mass expulsions of Palestinians. At one point, he was suspended for waving a noose at an Arab lawmaker.
Kahane was banned from running in 1988, and two years later, he was assassinated by an Egyptian-American in New York. But his hate-filled ideology has remained influential in Israel.
In 1994, Kahane follower Baruch Goldstein opened fire in a holy site in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, killing 29 Muslim worshippers and wounding over 100. That led both Israel and the U.S. to label his Kach movement and an offshoot, Kahane Lives, as terrorist groups.
In March, another admirer of the late rabbi, who for years had hung a picture of Goldstein on his living room wall, was elected to Israel's parliament.
Itamar Ben-Gvir joined the Knesset as part of Religious Zionism, a bloc of far-right parties that came together at Netanyahu's prodding so none would fall below the electoral threshold.
Since then, Ben-Gvir has made frequent media appearances, displaying a cheerful demeanor and a knack for deflecting criticism as he banters with TV and radio hosts.
It's working: Ifat, a research firm, says Ben-Gvir is the third most interviewed politician on Israeli TV and radio, behind Netanyahu and Naftali Bennett, another right-wing politician.
“He’s a good speaker and he knows how to play the game,” said Shuki Friedman, an expert on Israel’s far right at the Israel Democracy Institute. “On one hand, he is addressing his supporters. ... On the other hand, he knows not to make mainstream Israelis too angry.”
He has staged provocative visits to Arab areas and been a near-constant presence on the sidelines of recent clashes, rallying ultranationalist supporters to confront Palestinians and assert “Jewish Power” — the name of his party.
Last week, he set up an outdoor parliamentary “office” in an Arab neighborhood of east Jerusalem where Jewish settlers are trying to expel Palestinians from their homes, setting off a melee. He later called for police to use live fire against Palestinian protesters at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a site sacred to Jews and Muslims.
A long-range Hamas rocket, fired at Jerusalem on Monday, disrupted the Jerusalem Day parade, which celebrates Israel’s annexation of east Jerusalem.
The mob violence erupted the next day. A Telegram channel displaying the Kahanist emblem — a yellow fist inside a black Star of David — swelled from a few hundred members to more than 6,000.
It was used to organize a crowd in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam on Wednesday that pulled an Arab from his car and beat him severely. The attack horrified Israelis and was widely condemned, including by far-right politicians. Israeli media reported the country's police chief blamed Ben-Gvir for inciting a Jewish “intifada,” the Arabic term used to refer to two Palestinian uprisings.
As a lawyer with a long history of defending Jewish extremists accused of attacking Arabs, Ben-Gvir has been careful not to run afoul of laws against incitement. He calls Kahane "righteous and holy," but has tried to distance himself by saying he doesn't agree with everything the rabbi said.
Ben-Gvir first became a national figure when he famously broke a hood ornament off then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s car in 1995.
“We got to his car, and we'll get to him too,” he said, just weeks before Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish extremist opposed to his peace efforts with the Palestinians.
Israel has shifted even more to the right since then, driven by the failure of peace efforts, repeated rounds of violence and demographic shifts. Ben-Gvir’s supporters are largely religious and ultra-Orthodox Jews, who tend to have large families.
Netanyahu hoped to tap into that by assembling a far-right bloc with Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, another ultranationalist. Ironically, they foiled Netanyahu's plan by blocking his outreach to a small Arab party needed to secure a parliamentary majority.
Dan Meridor, a former justice minister and Likud heavyweight who helped lead efforts to ban Kahane from parliament in 1988, believes Netanyahu made a grave error in rehabilitating his followers.
“You can just see the dramatic and very harmful change the Likud went through when they legitimized the Kahanists,” he said. “It changed very tragically to me.”
Palestinian citizens of Israel, on the other hand, view Ben-Gvir as the latest in a long line of Israeli politicians — including Netanyahu — who have treated them as second-class citizens, if not enemies of the state. It's one of many grievances they point to in explaining the recent protests and clashes with police.
Diana Buttu, a lawyer and analyst who is a Palestinian citizen of Israel, says it's easy for Israelis to dismiss the Kahanists as a fringe group.
"But if you step back and look at this country through the eyes of a Palestinian, you see that at every single political level, in every single political party, there’s been some form of anti-Palestinian racism.”
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Aramagedon
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The pigs are killing children & women and only Iran, Syria and Qatar (politically, economically) have helped Palestinians among 1.8 billion Muslims.
1.8 billion Muslims must be proud of themselves as good servants of Allah.
1.8 billion Muslims must be proud of themselves as good servants of Allah.
Mohamed Bin Tughlaq
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Kamikaze Pilot
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Enough of 'complaint threads'. Now let's pay tribute to calibre of Israeli military.
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Dalit
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LOL what are you a false flagger? Singing Indian songs. I have seen many like you on this forum. Just take care of COVID in India before worrying about secularism and Muslims.
You can't do shit. Neither can your Israeli friends. When push comes to shove it will be a war. What you are witnessing right now is only the tip of the iceberg.
Goritoes
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If a Muslim majority country did half of what Israel is doing, the entire Western Militaries would be joining hands to invade that country to protect the prosecuted minority (Non-Muslim), what a shame that we live in a world where certain people and their blood has no value in the eyes of the so-called " Progressive world " I think we deserved the Covid, and much worse as we as humans have created such a mess in this world that the creator is not happy.
Jobless Jack
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And who will accept the palestanians?
You do realise that all these so called heroe nations ( muslim countries and their leaders)who are condemning israel sold the Palestine for dime and power 100 years ago?
Countries( and their leaders) which didnt exist then, now show support for the palestine cause to gain political mileage i.e. Erdogan.
sad to say, but palestine is in her own.
Thier own muslim family has sold them for worldly gains.
Dalit
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The world is a jungle. Humans are not civilised even if they pretend to be intelligent and developed. Pakistan did the right thing even when it got immense slack for going nuclear. Nations must put security as number one priority. Everything else comes second. You negotiate from a position of parity or strenght. If you are the underdog the world will swallow you.
Now imagine that despite COVID these monsters are going apeshit. Just imagine if COVID wasn't here.
Goritoes
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Mohamed Bin Tughlaq
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The Israelis miscalculated on all fronts. Not only in Hamas capabilities and deterence but also from their image and the future implications.. Due to the starting from Al-aqsa issues signifies the situation and gives israel the worst PR it has ever had and one it will find extremely hard to get out of and nearly impossible.
They have also miscalculated Hamas and the regional situations which means they have empowered the hardliners who will gain power thru out the next years to decades.. They pushed the regions policy in the wrong direction that will see them ended. They can't contain with Hamas imagine if just one state-actors breaks ranks and attacks? they will level all of their cities to the ground.. They have no conventional edge as some previously assumed which I debunked all along but people are realizing it now
They have also miscalculated Hamas and the regional situations which means they have empowered the hardliners who will gain power thru out the next years to decades.. They pushed the regions policy in the wrong direction that will see them ended. They can't contain with Hamas imagine if just one state-actors breaks ranks and attacks? they will level all of their cities to the ground.. They have no conventional edge as some previously assumed which I debunked all along but people are realizing it now
Stryker1982
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they’ve also damaged decades of peaceful integration between Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews in just 4 days. Putting the country at risk of civil hatred. Unprecedented
Goritoes
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Maybe Allah SWT should just send a meteor and be done with this world full of hate and disgust for each other once and for all. The mentality of Jews is amazing even after what they went through in the EU, they should be the last ones to talk about kicking someone out of their homes, killing them or slaughtering them, or taking someone's land/home, but their behavior makes me realize why this nation which was once so beloved to Allah who sent Food from Heaven to become the cursed nation.
Kamikaze Pilot
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Israel steps up Gaza offensive, kills senior Hamas figures
AP | May 13, 2021, 07:41 IST
GAZA CITY: Israel on Wednesday pressed ahead with a fierce military offensive in the Gaza Strip, killing as many as 10 senior Hamas military figures and toppling a pair of high-rise towers housing Hamas facilities in a series of airstrikes. The Islamic militant group showed no signs of backing down and fired hundreds of rockets at Israeli cities.
In just three days, this latest round of fighting between the bitter enemies has already begun to resemble — and even exceed — a devastating 50-day war in 2014. Like that previous war, neither side appears to have an exit strategy. But there are key differences. The fighting has triggered the worst Jewish-Arab violence inside Israel in decades. And looming in the background is an international war crimes investigation.
Israel carried out an intense barrage of airstrikes just after sunrise, striking dozens of targets in several minutes that set off bone-rattling explosions across Gaza. Airstrikes continued throughout the day, filling the sky with pillars of smoke.
At nightfall, the streets of Gaza City resembled a ghost town as people huddled indoors on the final night of Ramadan. The evening, followed by the Eid al-Fitr holiday, is usually a time of vibrant night life, shopping and crowded restaurants.
“There is nowhere to run. There is nowhere to hide,” said Zeyad Khattab, a 44-year-old pharmacist who fled with a dozen other relatives to a family home in central Gaza after bombs pounded his apartment building in Gaza City. “That terror is impossible to describe.”
Gaza militants continued to bombard Israel with nonstop rocket fire throughout the day and into early Thursday. The attacks brought life to a standstill in southern communities near Gaza, but also reached as far north as the Tel Aviv area, about 70 kilometers (45 miles) to the north, for a second straight day.
The military said sirens also wailed in northern Israel’s Migdal Ha’Emek area, the farthest the effects of Gaza rockets have reached since 2014.
“We’re coping, sitting at home, hoping it will be OK,” said Motti Haim, a resident of the central town of Beer Yaakov and father of two children. “It’s not simple running to the shelter. It’s not easy with the kids.”
Gaza’s Health Ministry said the death toll rose to 67 Palestinians, including 16 children and five women. Islamic Jihad confirmed the deaths of seven militants, while Hamas acknowledged that a top commander and several other members were killed.
A total of seven people have been killed in Israel, including four people who died on Wednesday. Among them were a soldier killed by an anti-tank missile and a 6-year-old child hit in a rocket attack.
The Israeli military claims the number of militants killed so far is much higher than Hamas has acknowledged.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said at least 14 militants were killed Wednesday — including 10 members of the “top management of Hamas” and four weapons experts. Altogether, he claimed some 30 militants have been killed since the fighting began.
More raids conducted early Thursday were aimed at several “strategically significant” facilities for Hamas, including a bank and a compound for a naval squad, the military said.
WhileU nited Nationsa nd Egyptian officials have said that cease-fire efforts are underway, there were no signs of progress. Israeli television’s Channel 12 reported late Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahue's Security Cabinet authorized a widening of the offensive.
UN chief Antonio Guterres
condemned the “indiscriminate launching of rockets” from civilian areas in Gaza toward Israeli population centers, but he also urged Israel to show “maximum restraint.” US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken called Netanyahu to support Israel’s right to defend itself and said he was sending a senior diplomat to the region to try to calm tensions.
The current eruption of violence began a month ago in Jerusalem, where heavy-handed Israeli police tactics during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers ignited protests and clashes with police. A focal point was the Al-Aqsa Mosque, built on a hilltop compound that is revered by Jews and Muslims, where police fired tear gas and stun grenades at protesters who threw chairs and stones at them.
Hamas, claiming to be defending Jerusalem, launched a barrage of rockets at the city late Monday, setting off days of fighting.
The Israeli military says militants have fired about 1,500 rockets in just three days. That is roughly one-third the number fired during the entire 2014 war.
Israel, meanwhile, has struck over 350 targets in Gaza, a tiny territory where 2 million Palestinians have lived under a crippling Israeli-Egyptian blockade since Hamas took power in 2007. Two infantry brigades were sent to the area, indicating preparations for a possible ground invasion.
In tactics echoing past wars, Israel has begun to target senior members of Hamas’ military wing. It also has flattened three high-rise buildings in a tactic that has drawn international scrutiny in the past.
Israel says the buildings all housed Hamas operations centers, but they also included residential apartments and businesses. In all cases, Israel fired warning shots, allowing people to flee, and there were no reports of casualties.
The fighting has unleashed violent clashes between Arabs and Jews in Israel, in scenes that have not been seen since 2000. Netanyahu warned that he was prepared to use an “iron fist if necessary” to calm the violence.
But ugly clashes erupted across the country late Wednesday. Jewish and Arab mobs battled in the central city of Lod, the epicenter of the troubles, despite a state of emergency and nighttime curfew. In nearby Bat Yam, a mob of Jewish nationalists attacked an Arab motorist, dragged him from his car and beat him until he was motionless.
In the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military said it thwarted a Palestinian shooting attack that wounded two people. The Palestinian Health Ministry said the suspected gunman was killed. No details were immediately available.
Still unclear is how the fighting in Gaza will affect Netanyahu’s political future. He failed to form a government coalition after inconclusive parliamentary elections in March, and now his political rivals have three weeks to try to form one.
His rivals have courted a small Islamist Arab party. But the longer the fighting drags on, the more it could hamper their attempts at forming a coalition. It could also boost Netanyahu if another election is held, since security is his strong suit with the public.
Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since the Islamic militant group seized power in Gaza from rival Palestinian forces in 2007.
The International Criminal Court has launched an investigation into possible war crimes by Israel and Hamas. In a brief statement, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said she had noted “with great concern” the escalation of violence and “the possible commission of crimes.”
The ICC is looking into Israeli actions in past wars in Gaza. Israel is not a member of the court, does not recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction and rejects the accusations. But in theory, the ICC could issue warrants and try to arrest Israeli suspects while traveling overseas.
Conricus, the military spokesman, said Israeli forces respect international laws on armed conflict and do their utmost to minimize civilian casualties. Israel blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group fires rockets from residential areas.
Emanuel Gross, a professor emeritus the University of Haifa law school, said Israel should “take into consideration the concerns of the ICC.” But he said he believes the military is on solid legal ground while rockets are striking Israeli cities.
“That’s the real meaning of self defense,” he said. “If you are attacked by a terrorist group, you defend yourself.”
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AP | May 13, 2021, 07:41 IST
GAZA CITY: Israel on Wednesday pressed ahead with a fierce military offensive in the Gaza Strip, killing as many as 10 senior Hamas military figures and toppling a pair of high-rise towers housing Hamas facilities in a series of airstrikes. The Islamic militant group showed no signs of backing down and fired hundreds of rockets at Israeli cities.
In just three days, this latest round of fighting between the bitter enemies has already begun to resemble — and even exceed — a devastating 50-day war in 2014. Like that previous war, neither side appears to have an exit strategy. But there are key differences. The fighting has triggered the worst Jewish-Arab violence inside Israel in decades. And looming in the background is an international war crimes investigation.
Israel carried out an intense barrage of airstrikes just after sunrise, striking dozens of targets in several minutes that set off bone-rattling explosions across Gaza. Airstrikes continued throughout the day, filling the sky with pillars of smoke.
At nightfall, the streets of Gaza City resembled a ghost town as people huddled indoors on the final night of Ramadan. The evening, followed by the Eid al-Fitr holiday, is usually a time of vibrant night life, shopping and crowded restaurants.
“There is nowhere to run. There is nowhere to hide,” said Zeyad Khattab, a 44-year-old pharmacist who fled with a dozen other relatives to a family home in central Gaza after bombs pounded his apartment building in Gaza City. “That terror is impossible to describe.”
Gaza militants continued to bombard Israel with nonstop rocket fire throughout the day and into early Thursday. The attacks brought life to a standstill in southern communities near Gaza, but also reached as far north as the Tel Aviv area, about 70 kilometers (45 miles) to the north, for a second straight day.
The military said sirens also wailed in northern Israel’s Migdal Ha’Emek area, the farthest the effects of Gaza rockets have reached since 2014.
“We’re coping, sitting at home, hoping it will be OK,” said Motti Haim, a resident of the central town of Beer Yaakov and father of two children. “It’s not simple running to the shelter. It’s not easy with the kids.”
Gaza’s Health Ministry said the death toll rose to 67 Palestinians, including 16 children and five women. Islamic Jihad confirmed the deaths of seven militants, while Hamas acknowledged that a top commander and several other members were killed.
A total of seven people have been killed in Israel, including four people who died on Wednesday. Among them were a soldier killed by an anti-tank missile and a 6-year-old child hit in a rocket attack.
The Israeli military claims the number of militants killed so far is much higher than Hamas has acknowledged.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said at least 14 militants were killed Wednesday — including 10 members of the “top management of Hamas” and four weapons experts. Altogether, he claimed some 30 militants have been killed since the fighting began.
More raids conducted early Thursday were aimed at several “strategically significant” facilities for Hamas, including a bank and a compound for a naval squad, the military said.
WhileU nited Nationsa nd Egyptian officials have said that cease-fire efforts are underway, there were no signs of progress. Israeli television’s Channel 12 reported late Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahue's Security Cabinet authorized a widening of the offensive.
UN chief Antonio Guterres
condemned the “indiscriminate launching of rockets” from civilian areas in Gaza toward Israeli population centers, but he also urged Israel to show “maximum restraint.” US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken called Netanyahu to support Israel’s right to defend itself and said he was sending a senior diplomat to the region to try to calm tensions.
The current eruption of violence began a month ago in Jerusalem, where heavy-handed Israeli police tactics during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers ignited protests and clashes with police. A focal point was the Al-Aqsa Mosque, built on a hilltop compound that is revered by Jews and Muslims, where police fired tear gas and stun grenades at protesters who threw chairs and stones at them.
Hamas, claiming to be defending Jerusalem, launched a barrage of rockets at the city late Monday, setting off days of fighting.
The Israeli military says militants have fired about 1,500 rockets in just three days. That is roughly one-third the number fired during the entire 2014 war.
Israel, meanwhile, has struck over 350 targets in Gaza, a tiny territory where 2 million Palestinians have lived under a crippling Israeli-Egyptian blockade since Hamas took power in 2007. Two infantry brigades were sent to the area, indicating preparations for a possible ground invasion.
In tactics echoing past wars, Israel has begun to target senior members of Hamas’ military wing. It also has flattened three high-rise buildings in a tactic that has drawn international scrutiny in the past.
Israel says the buildings all housed Hamas operations centers, but they also included residential apartments and businesses. In all cases, Israel fired warning shots, allowing people to flee, and there were no reports of casualties.
The fighting has unleashed violent clashes between Arabs and Jews in Israel, in scenes that have not been seen since 2000. Netanyahu warned that he was prepared to use an “iron fist if necessary” to calm the violence.
But ugly clashes erupted across the country late Wednesday. Jewish and Arab mobs battled in the central city of Lod, the epicenter of the troubles, despite a state of emergency and nighttime curfew. In nearby Bat Yam, a mob of Jewish nationalists attacked an Arab motorist, dragged him from his car and beat him until he was motionless.
In the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military said it thwarted a Palestinian shooting attack that wounded two people. The Palestinian Health Ministry said the suspected gunman was killed. No details were immediately available.
Still unclear is how the fighting in Gaza will affect Netanyahu’s political future. He failed to form a government coalition after inconclusive parliamentary elections in March, and now his political rivals have three weeks to try to form one.
His rivals have courted a small Islamist Arab party. But the longer the fighting drags on, the more it could hamper their attempts at forming a coalition. It could also boost Netanyahu if another election is held, since security is his strong suit with the public.
Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since the Islamic militant group seized power in Gaza from rival Palestinian forces in 2007.
The International Criminal Court has launched an investigation into possible war crimes by Israel and Hamas. In a brief statement, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said she had noted “with great concern” the escalation of violence and “the possible commission of crimes.”
The ICC is looking into Israeli actions in past wars in Gaza. Israel is not a member of the court, does not recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction and rejects the accusations. But in theory, the ICC could issue warrants and try to arrest Israeli suspects while traveling overseas.
Conricus, the military spokesman, said Israeli forces respect international laws on armed conflict and do their utmost to minimize civilian casualties. Israel blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group fires rockets from residential areas.
Emanuel Gross, a professor emeritus the University of Haifa law school, said Israel should “take into consideration the concerns of the ICC.” But he said he believes the military is on solid legal ground while rockets are striking Israeli cities.
“That’s the real meaning of self defense,” he said. “If you are attacked by a terrorist group, you defend yourself.”
Israel Palestine conflict: Israel steps up Gaza offensive, kills senior Hamas figures | World News - Times of India
Middle East News: Israel on Wednesday pressed ahead with a fierce military offensive in the Gaza Strip, killing as many as 10 senior Hamas military figures and toppling
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Mohamed Bin Tughlaq
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One thing I will for once welcome is that idiots will stop overhyping. Good riddance to that convo. I had to explain to some really idiotic people about how fragile Israel truly was militarily. I was debunked yada yada.. I was talking from a pragmatic point of view.. I know my study as someone who has passion for weaponry and warfare tech.. My take had some weight but hopefully people will know now I was speaking the truth and nothing else but the truth
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