Gaza Pummeled by Fresh Israeli Strikes, More Than 200 Dead in a Week

Smoke and flames rise above a building during Israeli air strikes in Gaza City at dawn on May 17, 2021 - REUTERS
Smoke and flames rise above a building during Israeli air strikes in Gaza City at dawn on May 17, 2021 - REUTERS
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Gaza Pummeled by Fresh Israeli Strikes, More Than 200 Dead in a Week

Smoke and flames rise above a building during Israeli air strikes in Gaza City at dawn on May 17, 2021 - REUTERS
Smoke and flames rise above a building during Israeli air strikes in Gaza City at dawn on May 17, 2021 - REUTERS

Israeli air strikes hammered the Gaza Strip pre-dawn Monday, after a week of violence between Israelis and Palestinians left more than 200 people dead as international calls for de-escalation went unheeded.

Overnight Sunday to Monday, Israel launched dozens of strikes in the space of a few minutes across the crowded coastal Palestinian enclave controlled by Islamist group Hamas, according to AFP journalists at the scene.

The strikes caused widespread power cuts and damaged hundreds of buildings, local authorities said. No casualties were immediately reported.

West Gaza resident Mad Abed Rabbo, 39, expressed “horror and fear” at the intensity of the onslaught.

“There have never been strikes of this magnitude,” he said.

In a statement just before 2:00 am (2300 GMT Sunday), the Israeli army said its fighter jets were “striking terror targets in the Gaza Strip.”

Gazan Mani Qazaat said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “should realize we’re civilians, not fighters.”

“I felt like I was dying.”

The renewed strikes come a day after 42 Palestinians in Gaza — including at least eight children and two doctors, according to the health ministry — were killed in the worst daily death toll in the enclave since the bombardments began.

In total, 197 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including at least 58 children, and more than 1,200 wounded since Israel launched its air campaign against Hamas on May 10 after the group fired rockets. The heaviest exchange of fire in years was sparked by unrest in Jerusalem.

In Israel, 10 people, including one child, have been killed and 282 wounded by rocket fire launched from Gaza.

The violence between Hamas and Israel is the worst since 2014, when Israel launched a military operation on the Gaza Strip with the stated aim of ending rocket fire and destroying tunnels used for smuggling.

The war left 2,251 dead on the Palestinian side, mostly civilians, and 74 on the Israeli side, mostly soldiers.

Opening the first session of the UN Security Council on the renewed violence on Sunday, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the fighting “utterly appalling.”

“It must stop immediately,” he said.

But the UN talks, already delayed by Israel’s ally the United States, resulted in little action, with Washington opposing a resolution.

President Joe Biden’s administration says it is working behind the scenes and that a Security Council statement could backfire.



UK Police Arrest Two Men over Alleged Hezbollah Links

A protester holding a flag of Lebanon's Hezbollah during a demonstration in Istanbul, Tuesday, May 15, 2018. AP Photo/Emrah Gurel
A protester holding a flag of Lebanon's Hezbollah during a demonstration in Istanbul, Tuesday, May 15, 2018. AP Photo/Emrah Gurel
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UK Police Arrest Two Men over Alleged Hezbollah Links

A protester holding a flag of Lebanon's Hezbollah during a demonstration in Istanbul, Tuesday, May 15, 2018. AP Photo/Emrah Gurel
A protester holding a flag of Lebanon's Hezbollah during a demonstration in Istanbul, Tuesday, May 15, 2018. AP Photo/Emrah Gurel

British counter-terrorism police said on Thursday they had arrested two men accused of being linked to the banned group Hezbollah, saying their investigation involved alleged activity both overseas and in Britain.

Detectives from London's Counter Terrorism Command (CTC) arrested a 39-year-old man in north London on suspicion of being a member of a proscribed group, preparing acts of terrorism and being involved in funding for the purposed of terrorism, Reuters said.

A second man, 35, was arrested in west London on suspicion of being a member of a banned organization.

"Our investigation remains ongoing, but I hope that these arrests show we will take robust action against anyone here whom we suspect as being involved in terrorist activity regardless of whether their activity is focused here in the UK or elsewhere," said commander Dominic Murphy, head of the CTC.

Police said the investigation related to the Iran-backed Lebanese movement Hezbollah which Britain outlawed in 2019 when it classified it as a terrorist group. There was no immediate threat to the public, they said.

The two men were released on police bail until mid-July.