Sabtu, 15 Mei 2021

Israel-Gaza conflict: Media building in Gaza collapses after Israeli airstrike as Palestinian rockets target Tel Aviv area - Sky News

A tower block that is the base for international media in Gaza has been hit by an Israeli bombardment, causing it to collapse.

The strike - an hour after people were told to evacuate the building - came as fighting raged.

Israel also bombed the home of Khalil al-Hayeh, a top leader of Gaza's ruling militant Hamas group.

Earlier, 10 Palestinians from an extended family, including eight children, were killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza City, and one Israeli was killed in a rocket attack near Tel Aviv.

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) posted footage of "the scene in the neighbourhood in Ramat Gan after a rocket from Gaza struck the area", saying they "will not let this terror go unanswered".

A building damaged by a rocket fired from Gaza, in Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv District
Image: A building damaged by a rocket fired from Gaza, in Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv District

The Israel-Palestinian hostilities are now in their sixth day and diplomatic efforts to stop the bloodshed are intensifying.

In other developments:

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with US President Joe Biden and said Israel was doing everything to avoid harming the uninvolved

• The UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called for strict respect for international law and appealed to all sides to take steps to de-escalate, as Malaysia and Indonesia called on the UN Security Council to intervene and stop Israel's strikes on Gaza

• Egypt pushed for both sides to pause military activities from midnight on Friday, with Cairo leaning on Hamas, while the US and others tried to reach an agreement with Israel - but an Egyptian source said Israel turned down an Egyptian proposal for a one-year truce that Gaza's militant Hamas rulers had accepted

• Amid the fighting, Palestinians marked the start of the Nakba, or "catastrophe", an annual day of Palestinian grief marking the displacement of hundreds of thousands of refugees at the time of Israel's creation in 1948

• The UN Security Council is set to meet on Sunday, after US diplomat Hady Amr arrived in the region on Friday as part of Washington's efforts to de-escalate the conflict, and Saudi Arabia called for foreign ministers of the world's largest body of Muslim nations to also meet

• The number killed rose overnight: 139 people have now died in Gaza, including 39 children and 22 women, according to Palestinian health officials, and nine - including two children and a soldier - on the Israeli side

• United Arab Emirates carriers Etihad Airways and flydubai cancelled flights to Tel Aviv, joining American and European airlines

• Iran's foreign minister cancelled a visit to Austria after the Austrian government flew the Israeli flag in Vienna in a show of solidarity

• In London, hundreds of people have gathered to march in solidarity with Palestinians, with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn among those expected to speak

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Hamas rocket hits Israeli city

The al Jalaa Tower, which houses foreign media - Al Jazeera and the Associated Press news agency, among others - was hit twice by an Israeli bombardment at about 1.15pm.

There were no reports of fatalities.

AP's correspondent in Gaza, Fares Akram, said earlier that the building was the only place in the city he felt safe, as it was known to the Israelis as a media base.

AP's president and CEO Gary Pruitt called the strike "incredibly disturbing", saying the company was "shocked and horrified".

"We narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life. A dozen AP journalists and freelancers were inside the building and thankfully we were able to evacuate them in time.

"The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today."

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Destruction in Gaza after Israeli air strike

The White House said in a statement the safety of reporters covering Gaza conflict was "a paramount responsibility".

A spokesperson for the IDF said: "The building contained civilian media offices, which the Hamas terror organization hides behind and uses as human shields. The Hamas terror organisation deliberately places military targets at the heart of densely populated civilian areas in the Gaza Strip."

Overnight on Saturday, the IDF said incoming rocket fire from Gaza had forced Israeli civilians to head to shelters to protect themselves for the fifth morning in a row, with the cities of Beersheba and Ashdod among those struck.

Israeli military forces said they carried out strikes on a Hamas military intelligence facility and a number of rocket launching sites in northern Gaza, an enclave controlled by the Islamist Palestinian group.

They added later they thwarted an attempt by Hamas to launch a drone armed with explosives from Gaza towards Israel.

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Violence spreads across wider Israel

An Israeli air strike killed eight children and two women from an extended family - the highest number of fatalities in a single hit since the Israel-Gaza conflict reignited earlier this week.

The 10 died when an airstrike hit a three storey house in a refugee camp in Gaza City, AP said, and a surviving widower told reporters that his wife and five children, only one of whom is known to have survived, had gone there to celebrate the Eid al Fitr holiday with relatives.

Soon after, Hamas said it fired multiple rockets at southern Israel in response.

A total of 15 Palestinians were killed by Israeli bombardment overnight, according to Palestinian medics on Saturday.

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Thousands protest against violence in Gaza

Palestinians militants fired about 200 rockets at Israeli cities during the same period, and Israel's military said its aircraft struck apartments that belonged to Hamas militants as well as rocket launch sites.

Ms Bachelet warned the firing of large numbers of indiscriminate rockets by Palestinian armed groups into densely populated Israeli areas amounts to war crimes - and there were concerns some attacks by the Israeli Defence Forces that have targeted "civilian objects" do not meet the requirements to be considered as military objectives under humanitarian law.

She said: "Rather than seeking to calm tensions, inflammatory rhetoric from leaders on all sides appears to be seeking to excite tensions rather than to calm them.

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"I urge both sides to ensure strict respect for their obligations under international law. Israel, as the occupying power, also has a duty to ensure unimpeded access to humanitarian assistance to the Gaza strip. Those found to be responsible for violations must be held to account."

The Nabka, which has fallen on Saturday, is one of the most sombre dates of protest in the Palestinian calendar. It marks the day after the creation of the state of Israel on 14 May 1948, a move that led to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fleeing or being expelled from the country.

Anti-Israeli protests erupted in the occupied West Bank on Friday, prompting Israeli forces to open fire, killing 11 people.

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Israeli airstrike hits Hamas security compound

In addition, pro-Palestinian demonstrations took place at Israel's borders with neighbouring Jordan and Lebanon, while three rockets were reportedly fired towards Israel from Syria.

There were fears that the conflict may spread as hundreds of people took part in the funeral of a Hezbollah fighter who was shot dead along the Lebanon-Israel border during a rally denouncing Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.

As well as in London, demonstrations against the Israeli bombing took place in cities across the world, including in Paris, Brussels, Baghdad and Amman.

Counter protests also took place.

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One city, two neighbours, very different views

The US embassy in Jerusalem said Hady Amr's aim after he arrived in Israel was "to reinforce the need to work towards a sustainable calm".

As well as Egypt, Qatar, Jordan and the United Nations are also important players in the negotiations.

Diplomats have already held a number of closed-door sessions since the bombardments by both sides began on Monday.

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CCTV captures moment of rocket strike in Israel

The violence was sparked by tensions in Jerusalem over efforts by Jewish settlers to evict a number of Palestinian families from their homes in an east Jerusalem neighbourhood, and by clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians at a revered mosque in the Old City.

On Friday night, online video showed young Jewish nationalists firing pistols as they traded volleys of stones with Palestinians in the disputed Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood.

Israel's military said that they had been going after a network of tunnels used by Hamas.

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Palestinians throw rocks at Israeli forces

The IDF says Hamas and Islamic Jihad, a fellow Palestinian militant group, have fired more than 2,000 rockets from Gaza towards Israel since the start of the hostilities - an unprecedented volume of strikes.

More than 400 rockets are said to have fallen short into Gaza, while many more were blasted out of the sky by Israeli air defence systems. However, some did impact.

For its part, the Israeli military said they have hit some 1,000 targets in Gaza, including rocket launch sites, individual commanders and the tunnel network.

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2021-05-15 16:18:45Z
52781577069323

EU on brink: Sweden's 'mourning' for UK after Brexit 'could quickly morph' into divorce - Daily Express

Tensions inside the bloc continue to grow, despite Brussels now appearing to have its vaccine rollout more under control. Statistics for May shows that more than 20 percent of the population of member states had now received a vaccine, with Malta leading the way with half of its citizens having the jab. Yet, this has not stopped a rise in euroscepticism throughout the EU, with the memories of the European Commission - led by President Ursula von der Leyen - and its handling of the pandemic still fresh in some people's minds.

The rollout threatened diplomatic ties with nations such as the UK and Australia, as a row over whether vaccines made inside the bloc should be released before member states had received their share of the jab.

While the EU struggled to keep up with demand, the UK has appeared to flourish away from the shackles of Brussels - with Britain able to fund and order as many vaccines as it wishes.

The UK's approach to go all out in the early days of the vaccine rollout was a world away from the EU, which took longer to offering funding to pharmaceutical companies, and purchase jabs.

This has led some to question whether other member states should remain inside the bloc.

In the immediate aftermath of Brexit in 2016, David Wemer - a Europe Fellow at Young Professionals in Foreign Policy - outlined how, and why, Sweden could be next to follow the UK's path.

He noted how the European project had "long struggled with the dual missions of integrating states into a supranational federal entity and the uniting of the whole European continent".

Mr Wemer wrote in the Diplomatic Courier: "Expansion to the United Kingdom, the Nordic countries, and Eastern Europe signalled that the founding states favoured a pan-European project over full integration.

JUST IN: EU on brink: Sweden told to grasp 'golden opportunity' for UK deal

Sweden and the UK have long held a solid friendship while inside the bloc, with reports showing that between 2009 and 2015 the two countries voted together on 88 percent of ballots.

The nations also successfully led an unprecedented charge to secure the first ever EU budget cut back in 2013.

These concerns over whether Sweden could leave the EU were recommended by a panel of influential commentators and politicians, who demanded the Nordic powerhouses of Denmark and Stockholm loosen their ties with the bloc.

Mark Brolin, Jan-Erik Gustafsson, Helle Hagenau, Ulla Klötzer and Erna Bjarnadóttir - from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland - co-authored an opinion piece, which also outlined how the EU would turn against voters who criticised the bloc.

They said that "due to the growing scepticism of voters towards the EU, many member states are struggling with political instability at home".

The panel noted that there was also "growing friction" between member states which have "incompatible goals" within the EU.

The piece, published in Aftonbladet in 2017, continued: "Thus, the so-called pacifier of peace has become a source of disagreement.

"Public debate is more constrained than ever since democratisation; the treatment of EU critics seems to have set low moral standards.

"And the people? EU spokesmen gave voters a top rating while supporting the Union.

"Now, when the voice of the electorate is mixed with scepticism, a large part of Europeans are described as narrow-minded, old-fashioned and isolationist or in the power of 'dark forces'."

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2021-05-15 16:11:00Z
CBMidGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmV4cHJlc3MuY28udWsvbmV3cy93b3JsZC8xNDM2NjU1L2V1LW5ld3Mtc3dlZGVuLW1vdXJuaW5nLXVrLWJyZXhpdC1kaXZvcmNlLXN3ZXhpdC1icnVzc2Vscy1xdWl0LWJsb2Mtc3B00gF4aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZXhwcmVzcy5jby51ay9uZXdzL3dvcmxkLzE0MzY2NTUvZXUtbmV3cy1zd2VkZW4tbW91cm5pbmctdWstYnJleGl0LWRpdm9yY2Utc3dleGl0LWJydXNzZWxzLXF1aXQtYmxvYy1zcHQvYW1w

Israel destroys Gaza tower housing foreign media - BBC News - BBC News

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2021-05-15 15:20:04Z
52781577069323

Israel-Gaza conflict: Media building in Gaza collapses after Israeli airstrike as Palestinian rockets target Tel Aviv area - Sky News

A tower block that is the base for international media in Gaza has been hit by an Israeli bombardment, causing it to collapse.

The strike - an hour after people were told to evacuate the building - came as fighting raged.

Earlier, 10 Palestinians from an extended family, including eight children, were killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza City, and one Israeli was killed in a rocket attack near Tel Aviv.

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) posted footage of "the scene in the neighbourhood in Ramat Gan after a rocket from Gaza struck the area", saying they "will not let this terror go unanswered".

A building damaged by a rocket fired from Gaza, in Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv District
Image: A building damaged by a rocket fired from Gaza, in Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv District

The Israel-Palestinian hostilities are now in their sixth day and diplomatic efforts to stop the bloodshed are intensifying.

In other developments:

• The UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called for strict respect for international law and appealed to all sides to take steps to de-escalate, as Malaysia and Indonesia called on the UN Security Council to intervene and stop Israel's strikes on Gaza

• Egypt pushed for both sides to pause military activities from midnight on Friday, with Cairo leaning on Hamas, while the US and others tried to reach an agreement with Israel - but an Egyptian source said Israel turned down an Egyptian proposal for a one-year truce that Gaza's militant Hamas rulers had accepted

• Amid the fighting, Palestinians marked the start of the Nakba, or "catastrophe", an annual day of Palestinian grief marking the displacement of hundreds of thousands of refugees at the time of Israel's creation in 1948

• The UN Security Council is also set to meet on Sunday, after US diplomat Hady Amr arrived in the region on Friday as part of Washington's efforts to de-escalate the conflict, and Saudi Arabia called for foreign ministers of the world's largest body of Muslim nations to also meet

• The number killed rose overnight: 139 people have now died in Gaza, including 39 children and 22 women, according to Palestinian health officials, and nine - including two children and a soldier - on the Israeli side

• United Arab Emirates carriers Etihad Airways and flydubai cancelled flights to Tel Aviv, joining American and European airlines

• Iran's foreign minister cancelled a visit to Austria after the Austrian government flew the Israeli flag in Vienna in a show of solidarity

• In London, hundreds of people have gathered to march in solidarity with Palestinians, with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn among those expected to speak

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Hamas rocket hits Israeli city

The al Jalaa Tower, which houses foreign media - Al Jazeera and the Associated Press news agency, among others - was hit twice by an Israeli bombardment at about 1.15pm.

There were no reports of fatalities.

AP's correspondent in Gaza, Fares Akram, said earlier that the building was the only place in the city he felt safe, as it was known to the Israelis as a media base.

AP's president and CEO Gary Pruitt said in a statement: "We are shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing AP's bureau and other news organisations in Gaza. They have long known the location of our bureau and knew journalists were there. We received a warning that the building would be hit.

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Destruction in Gaza after Israeli air strike

"We are seeking information from the Israeli government and are engaged with the US State Department to try to learn more."

A spokesperson for the IDF said: "The building contained civilian media offices, which the Hamas terror organization hides behind and uses as human shields. The Hamas terror organisation deliberately places military targets at the heart of densely populated civilian areas in the Gaza Strip."

Overnight on Saturday, the IDF said incoming rocket fire from Gaza had forced Israeli civilians to head to shelters to protect themselves for the fifth morning in a row, with the cities of Beersheba and Ashdod among those struck.

Israeli military forces said they carried out strikes on a Hamas military intelligence facility and a number of rocket launching sites in northern Gaza, an enclave controlled by the Islamist Palestinian group.

They added later they thwarted an attempt by Hamas to launch a drone armed with explosives from Gaza towards Israel.

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Violence spreads across wider Israel

An Israeli air strike killed eight children and two women from an extended family - the highest number of fatalities in a single hit since the Israel-Gaza conflict reignited earlier this week.

The 10 died when an airstrike hit a three storey house in a refugee camp in Gaza City, AP said, and a surviving widower told reporters that his wife and five children, only one of whom is known to have survived, had gone there to celebrate the Eid al Fitr holiday with relatives.

Soon after, Hamas said it fired multiple rockets at southern Israel in response.

A total of 15 Palestinians were killed by Israeli bombardment overnight, according to Palestinian medics on Saturday.

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Thousands protest against violence in Gaza

Palestinians militants fired about 200 rockets at Israeli cities during the same period, and Israel's military said its aircraft struck apartments that belonged to Hamas militants as well as rocket launch sites.

Ms Bachelet warned the firing of large numbers of indiscriminate rockets by Palestinian armed groups into densely populated Israeli areas amounts to war crimes - and there were concerns some attacks by the Israeli Defence Forces that have targeted "civilian objects" do not meet the requirements to be considered as military objectives under humanitarian law.

She said: "Rather than seeking to calm tensions, inflammatory rhetoric from leaders on all sides appears to be seeking to excite tensions rather than to calm them.

"I urge both sides to ensure strict respect for their obligations under international law. Israel, as the occupying power, also has a duty to ensure unimpeded access to humanitarian assistance to the Gaza strip. Those found to be responsible for violations must be held to account."

The Nabka, which has fallen on Saturday, is one of the most sombre dates of protest in the Palestinian calendar. It marks the day after the creation of the state of Israel on 14 May 1948, a move that led to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fleeing or being expelled from the country.

Anti-Israeli protests erupted in the occupied West Bank on Friday, prompting Israeli forces to open fire, killing 11 people.

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Israeli airstrike hits Hamas security compound

In addition, pro-Palestinian demonstrations took place at Israel's borders with neighbouring Jordan and Lebanon, while three rockets were reportedly fired towards Israel from Syria.

There were fears that the conflict may spread as hundreds of people took part in the funeral of a Hezbollah fighter who was shot dead along the Lebanon-Israel border during a rally denouncing Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.

As well as in London, demonstrations against the Israeli bombing took place in cities across the world, including in Paris, Brussels, Baghdad and Amman.

Counter protests also took place.

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One city, two neighbours, very different views

The US embassy in Jerusalem said Hady Amr's aim after he arrived in Israel was "to reinforce the need to work towards a sustainable calm".

As well as Egypt, Qatar, Jordan and the United Nations are also important players in the negotiations.

Diplomats have already held a number of closed-door sessions since the bombardments by both sides began on Monday.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

CCTV captures moment of rocket strike in Israel

The violence was sparked by tensions in Jerusalem over efforts by Jewish settlers to evict a number of Palestinian families from their homes in an east Jerusalem neighbourhood, and by clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians at a revered mosque in the Old City.

On Friday night, online video showed young Jewish nationalists firing pistols as they traded volleys of stones with Palestinians in the disputed Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood.

The Israel's military said that they had been going after a network of tunnels used by Hamas.

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Palestinians throw rocks at Israeli forces

The IDF says Hamas and Islamic Jihad, a fellow Palestinian militant group, have fired more than 2,000 rockets from Gaza towards Israel since the start of the hostilities - an unprecedented volume of strikes.

More than 400 rockets are said to have fallen short into Gaza, while many more were blasted out of the sky by Israeli air defence systems. However, some did impact.

For its part, the Israeli military said they have hit some 1,000 targets in Gaza, including rocket launch sites, individual commanders and the tunnel network.

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2021-05-15 14:05:18Z
52781577069323

Israel-Gaza conflict: Media building in Gaza collapses after Israeli airstrike as Palestinian rockets target Tel Aviv area - Sky News

A tower block that is the base for international media in Gaza has been hit by an Israeli bombardment, causing it to collapse.

The strike - an hour after people were told to evacuate the building - came as fighting raged.

Earlier, 10 Palestinians from an extended family, including eight children, were killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza City, and one Israeli was killed in a rocket attack near Tel Aviv.

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) posted footage of "the scene in the neighbourhood in Ramat Gan after a rocket from Gaza struck the area", saying they "will not let this terror go unanswered".

A building damaged by a rocket fired from Gaza, in Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv District
Image: A building damaged by a rocket fired from Gaza, in Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv District

In other developments:

• The UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called for strict respect for international law and appealed to all sides to take steps to de-escalate, as Malaysia and Indonesia called on the UN Security Council to intervene and stop Israel's strikes on Gaza

• Egypt pushed for both sides to pause military activities from midnight on Friday, with Cairo leaning on Hamas, while the US and others tried to reach an agreement with Israel - but an Egyptian source said Israel turned down an Egyptian proposal for a one-year truce that Gaza's militant Hamas rulers had accepted

• Amid the fighting, Palestinians marked the start of the Nakba, or "catastrophe", an annual day of Palestinian grief marking the displacement of hundreds of thousands of refugees at the time of Israel's creation in 1948

• The UN Security Council is also set to meet on Sunday, after US diplomat Hady Amr arrived in the region on Friday as part of Washington's efforts to de-escalate the conflict

• The number killed rose overnight: 139 people have now died in Gaza, including 39 children and 22 women, according to Palestinian health officials, and nine - including two children and a soldier - on the Israeli side

• United Arab Emirates carriers Etihad Airways and flydubai cancelled flights to Tel Aviv, joining American and European airlines

• Iran's foreign minister cancelled a visit to Austria after the Austrian government flew the Israeli flag in Vienna in a show of solidarity

• In London, hundreds of people have gathered to march in solidarity with Palestinians, with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn among those expected to speak

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Hamas rocket hits Israeli city

The al Jalaa Tower, which houses foreign media - Al Jazeera and the Associated Press news agency, among others - was hit twice by an Israeli bombardment at about 1.15pm.

There were no reports of fatalities.

AP's correspondent in Gaza, Fares Akram, said earlier that the building was the only place in the city he felt safe, as it was known to the Israelis as a media base.

A spokesperson for the IDF said: "The building contained civilian media offices, which the Hamas terror organization hides behind and uses as human shields. The Hamas terror organization deliberately places military targets at the heart of densely populated civilian areas in the Gaza Strip."

Overnight on Saturday, the IDF said incoming rocket fire from Gaza had forced Israeli civilians to head to shelters to protect themselves for the fifth morning in a row, with the cities of Beersheba and Ashdod among those struck.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Destruction in Gaza after Israeli air strike

Israeli military forces said they carried out strikes on a Hamas military intelligence facility and a number of rocket launching sites in northern Gaza, an enclave controlled by the Islamist Palestinian group.

They added later they thwarted an attempt by Hamas to launch a drone armed with explosives from Gaza towards Israel.

An Israeli air strike killed eight children and two women from an extended family - the highest number of fatalities in a single hit since the Israel-Gaza conflict reignited earlier this week.

The 10 died when an airstrike hit a three storey house in a refugee camp in Gaza City, AP said, and a surviving widower told reporters that his wife and five children, only one of whom is known to have survived, had gone there to celebrate the Eid al Fitr holiday with relatives.

Soon after, Hamas said it fired multiple rockets at southern Israel in response.

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Violence spreads across wider Israel

A total of 15 Palestinians were killed by Israeli bombardment overnight, according to Palestinian medics on Saturday.

Palestinians militants fired about 200 rockets at Israeli cities, and Israel's military said its aircraft struck apartments that belonged to Hamas militants as well as rocket launch sites.

Ms Bachelet warned the firing of large numbers of indiscriminate rockets by Palestinian armed groups into densely populated Israeli areas amounts to war crimes - and there were concerns some attacks by the Israeli Defence Forces that have targeted "civilian objects" do not meet the requirements to be considered as military objectives under humanitarian law.

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Thousands protest against violence in Gaza

She said: "Over the past 10 days, the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel has deteriorated at an alarming rate.

"Rather than seeking to calm tensions, inflammatory rhetoric from leaders on all sides appears to be seeking to excite tensions rather than to calm them.

"I urge both sides to ensure strict respect for their obligations under international law. Israel, as the occupying power, also has a duty to ensure unimpeded access to humanitarian assistance to the Gaza strip. Those found to be responsible for violations must be held to account."

The Nabka, which has fallen on Saturday, is one of the most sombre dates of protest in the Palestinian calendar. It marks the day after the creation of the state of Israel on 14 May 1948, a move that led to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fleeing or being expelled from the country.

This year, Nakba Day is expected to be particularly tense, coming as Israelis and Palestinians engage in their worst clashes in years and with street unrest rising in mixed Jewish-Arab neighbourhoods across Israel stirring fears of a descent into civil war.

Anti-Israeli protests also erupted in the occupied West Bank on Friday, prompting Israeli forces to open fire, killing 11 people.

In addition, pro-Palestinian demonstrations took place at Israel's borders with neighbouring Jordan and Lebanon, while three rockets were reportedly fired towards Israel from Syria.

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Israeli airstrike hits Hamas security compound

The Israel-Palestinian hostilities are now in their sixth day and diplomatic efforts to stop the bloodshed are intensifying.

The US embassy in Jerusalem said Hady Amr's aim after he arrived in Israel was "to reinforce the need to work towards a sustainable calm".

As well as Egypt, Qatar, Jordan and the United Nations are also important players.

"The talks have taken a real and serious path on Friday," a Palestinian official was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying.

"The mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations are stepping up their contacts with all sides in a bid to restore calm, but a deal hasn't yet been reached."

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One city, two neighbours, very different views

Diplomats have already held a number of closed-door sessions since the bombardments by both sides began on Monday.

The violence was sparked by tensions in Jerusalem over efforts by Jewish settlers to evict a number of Palestinian families from their homes in an east Jerusalem neighbourhood, and by clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians at a revered mosque in the Old City.

On Friday night, online video showed young Jewish nationalists firing pistols as they traded volleys of stones with Palestinians in the disputed Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

CCTV captures moment of rocket strike in Israel

Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip continued into early Saturday, followed by a salvo of Hamas rockets towards Israel.

The exchanges came after the heaviest barrage of Israeli tank and artillery fire, combined with airstrikes, overnight into Friday that pummelled the Palestinian enclave.

The Israeli military said that they had been going after a network of tunnels used by Hamas. But the onslaught wreaked destruction in some towns, killed a family of six in their house and sent thousands fleeing their homes.

Houda Ouda said she and her extended family ran frantically into their home in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, seeking safety as the earth shook in the darkness.

"We even did not dare to look from the window to know what is being hit," she said.

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Palestinians throw rocks at Israeli forces

The Israeli Defence Forces has said Hamas and Islamic Jihad, a fellow Palestinian militant group, have fired more than 2,000 rockets from Gaza towards Israel since the start of the hostilities - an unprecedented volume of strikes.

More than 400 rockets are said to have fallen short into Gaza, while many more were blasted out of the sky by Israeli air defence systems. However, some did impact.

Across central and southern Israel, from small towns bordering Gaza to metropolitan Tel Aviv and southern Beersheba, Israelis have adjusted to sirens wailing, radio and TV broadcast interruptions and the beeps on their mobile phones of red alerts that send them rushing for cover.

For its part, the Israeli military said they have hit some 1,000 targets in Gaza, including rocket launch sites, individual commanders and the tunnel network.

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2021-05-15 13:55:43Z
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Israeli hit on Gaza refugee camp kills 10, including 8 children - Al Jazeera English

Those killed at the Shati refugee camp were family members, Palestinian rescuers and relatives say.

Gaza City – At least 10 member of a Palestinian family – two women and eight children – have been killed by an Israeli air raid on their home in the Shati refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, following the fifth night of relentless bombardment of the besieged enclave.

In the early hours of Saturday, rescue workers were digging through the rubble of the Abu Hatab family home where more people are believed to be buried.

At least 15 people were also wounded in the air raid, including an infant named Omar.

Nabil Abu Al Reesh, a doctor treating survivors at al-Shifa Hospital, said responders are “still trying to recover more bodies and figure out who is who”.

“This is truly a massacre that cannot be described,” he told Al Jazeera.

A nurse holds a baby who was pulled alive from under the rubble after the Israeli air raid [Mahmud Hams/AFP]
A man who identified himself as a cousin of the owner of the house told Al Jazeera the attack happened “without any warning”.

“We ran outside; we saw the four-storey house get completely demolished. It was completely levelled,” he said.

He added the homeowner’s sister and children were visiting when the attack occurred.

“They were all killed,” he said. “All of them.”

A boy who was wounded in the attack told Al Jazeera from the hospital that “the missiles hit and the windows got shattered.”

“It hit our head. We got wounded,” he said. “We started running barefoot and my sister left all our belongings behind.”

Funerals for the family were held early Saturday.

A wounded Palestinian boy sits on a hospital bed at al-Shifa Hospital [Mahmud Hams/AFP]
According to the United Nations refugee agency for Palestinians, Shati is third largest of the Gaza Strip’s eight refugee camps and one of the most crowded. It is home to more than 85,000 refugees, who all reside in an area of just 0.52 square kilometres.

Other Gaza sites hit by Israeli missiles on Saturday included a bank and the interior ministry. Another air raid also reportedly hit a house in Khan Yunis.

Hamas, the group governing the Gaza Strip, responded to the latest attack on Shati refugee camp by firing a barrage of rockets towards the southern Israeli towns of Askhelon and Ashdod. No casualties were reported.

The Israeli bombardment of Gaza has killed at least 139 Palestinians, including 40 children, and wounded more than 920 since Monday when, following days of protests against the forced expulsion of Palestinian families from the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah and subsequent Israeli crackdowns and raids on the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Hamas began firing rockets at Israel.

The rockets, many of which have been intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system, have killed at least eight people in Israel, including one child.

In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces have killed at least 13 Palestinians protesting against continued Israeli occupation and the ongoing bombardment of Gaza, while violence between Palestinian citizens of Israel and Israeli Jews has persisted amid the escalation.

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2021-05-15 07:56:48Z
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Jumat, 14 Mei 2021

Israel renews airstrikes on Gaza, and Hamas fires rockets back, as violence continues for fifth night - Sky News

Israeli planes renewed airstrikes in Gaza early on Saturday morning, with Hamas militants firing rockets back as violence continued for a fifth night.

At least 11 people were killed in the West Bank on Friday amid the most widespread Palestinian protests in years, with hundreds of young demonstrators in multiple towns clashing with Israeli troops.

According to Palestinian officials, most of those killed had been shot by live ammunition, with 16 fatalities also reported in Gaza yesterday.

A number of protesters were killed after throwing stones at troops, while one was shot for ramming his car into a military post and then trying to stab a soldier, the officials added.

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Israeli airstrike hits Hamas security compound

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Palestinians throw rocks at Israeli forces

Another man was shot in the head in the West Bank town of al Rihiya, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Key developments:

  • 132 Palestinians have died in Gaza since Monday, including 31 children and 20 women, 900 people have been injured
  • Eight Israelis have died since Monday, including two children and a soldier
  • Israeli forces assembled 9,000 troops along the Gaza border, as well as infiltrating Hamas tunnels
  • Lebanon fired three rockets towards Israel into the Mediterranean Sea in a show of solidarity to Palestinians
  • Hamas have fired thousands of rockets into Israel, with hundreds falling short and landing in Gaza
  • Israel launched its heaviest bombardment yet on Friday, destroying buildings in Gaza City
  • Mob fighting continued between Arabs and Jews in "mixed" Israeli towns, with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin describing it as "senseless civil war"
Pic: AP
Image: Palestinian protesters throw tyres to block Israeli soldiers near Ramallah. Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Image: A protester waves the Palestinian flag in the West Bank. Pic: AP

Israel launched day-long attacks on Friday to destroy what it said were several miles of tunnels, launch sites and weapons manufacturing warehouses used by the militants in an effort to halt the rocket attacks.

More on Gaza

Ahead of a UN Security Council session that is due to take place on Sunday, the US Embassy in Israel has sought to "reinforce the need to work towards a sustainable calm".

Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have called for a ceasefire and negotiations, with the UAE offering condolences to all victims.

Israeli cities with mixed Arab and Jewish populations have seen daily violence, with mobs from each community clashing and trashing each other's property.

Further protests are expected today as Palestinians mark Nakba Bay - Arabic for "catastrophe" - 73 years after the establishment of modern-day Israel.

Israeli soldiers assemble with their tanks at the Gaza border
Image: Israeli soldiers assemble with their tanks at the Gaza border

Amid the widespread West Bank protests, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) fired warning shots at a group of demonstrators who had crossed the border from Lebanon to take part.

The IDF said that the group of youths damaged the border fence and set fire to the area before fleeing back to the Lebanese side.

A Lebanese police official said one protester who was injured by Israeli gunfire had died of their injuries.

Smoke and flames rise during an Israeli air strike, amid a flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian violence, in Gaza City May 14, 2021. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
DOWNLOAD PICTURE
Date: 14/05/2021 15:58
Dimensions: 2348 x 1565
Size: 1.2MB
Edit Status: new
Category: I
Topic Codes: POL MEAST VIO
Fixture Identifier: RC2QFN900F8K
Byline: MOHAMMED SALEM
City: GAZA CITY
Country Name: Palestinian Territories
Country Code: PSE
OTR: GAZ
Credit: REUTERS
Source: REUTERS
Caption Writer: SAL/
Source News Feeds: Reuters
Image: An explosion after an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City
Israel insists that only militants in Gaza are targeted
Image: Buildings obliterated in Gaza City
The Israeli city of Lod was targeted in overnight strikes.
Image: The Israeli city of Lod after widespread rioting

Lebanon had fired three rockets towards Israel late on Thursday, in an apparent show of solidarity to the Palestinians in the occupied territories. They landed in the Mediterranean Sea and caused no damage.

Hamas and smaller Palestinian terror group Islamic Jihad continued to launch rockets from the strip into Israel on Friday.

Dr Mustafa Barghouti, an independent Palestinian politician, told Sky News correspondent Mark Stone in Ramallah that "Hamas and others are saying they are ready immediately for a ceasefire, but Israel is refusing".

In a video statement on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "I said we would extract a heavy price from Hamas.

"We are doing that, and we will continue to do that with heavy force."

Hamas military spokesman Abu Obeida said the group was not afraid of an Israeli ground invasion, which would be a chance "to increase our catch" of Israeli soldiers.

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2021-05-15 03:45:00Z
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