Israel’s military said it had struck more targets in Gaza in the past week than it did in all of 2020. About 3,150 rockets have been fired from Gaza at Israeli territory since last Monday, though the Israeli military said many had either fallen short or been intercepted by the Iron Dome aerial defense system.
Israeli strikes have killed 200 people in Gaza, including 59 children and 35 women, and displaced 40,000 more, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said Monday. Sunday was the deadliest day yet with more than 50 killed, the ministry said.
The ministry also warned Monday that Israeli strikes on homes, medical facilities and infrastructure had created the conditions for an “upcoming wave” of Covid-19 cases, and that those fleeing to shelters would be “exposed to the spread of infectious diseases, especially the danger of spread of the coronavirus.”
The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday released photos purporting to show Hamas rocket installations and tunnel entrances placed in close proximity to civilian infrastructure like hospitals and schools. The IDF said that “Hamas deliberately and systematically places military targets within the civilian population, exposing their citizens to danger.”
Meanwhile, rocket fire from Gaza has killed at least 10 people in Israel, including two children, since the start of the flareup, according to the IDF. On Monday, a fresh barrage of rockets from Gaza once again set off sirens and sent Israelis fleeing into bomb shelters in Ashdod, Ashkelon and Beer Sheva. At least one residential building in Ashdod was hit, the IDF said. Three people were slightly injured, the Israeli Red Cross said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he would do “whatever it takes to restore order,” and that “it will take some time.”
During an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Sunday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres pleaded for peace lest an “uncontainable security and humanitarian crisis” erupt that would “further foster extremism” in Israel, the Palestinian territories and the region writ large.
Egypt and Qatar’s efforts to broker a truce have stalled over two main points, a senior Hamas leader with direct knowledge of meditation efforts told CNN on Sunday.
One stumbling block is Israel’s insistence that Hamas must initiate the ceasefire, at least three hours before Israel, at which point Israel would follow. Hamas flatly rejected this proposal, the Hamas leader said.
The other hurdle is Hamas’ insistence that any ceasefire must include the ending of Israel’s “provocations” at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and a resolution of the Sheikh Jarrah eviction threat,…
Read More: Israel-Gaza conflict goes into second week with airstrikes on Hamas tunnels