Israel has intensified its assault on Gaza, as Palestinian militants continue to fire rockets into Israel on the fifth day of hostilities. Israel’s military said air and ground forces were involved in attacks on Friday but had not entered Gaza.
Meanwhile, clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli security forces spread across much of the occupied West Bank. At least 122 people have been killed in Gaza and eight have died in Israel since the fighting began on Monday. Jewish and Israeli-Arab mobs have also been fighting within Israel, prompting its president to warn of civil war.
Defence Minister Benny Gantz ordered a “massive reinforcement” of security forces to suppress the internal unrest that has seen more than 400 people arrested.
Police say Israeli Arabs have been responsible for most of the trouble and reject the accusation that they are standing by while gangs of Jewish youths target Arab homes.
In Gaza, Palestinians fearing an incursion by Israeli troops have been fleeing areas close to the border with Israel. Residents who had left Shejaiya in Gaza City said shells had been falling on homes.
“We felt like we were in a horror movie,” said local resident Salwa Al-Attar, who escaped the bombardment with her family. “The planes were above us, and the tanks and navy were bombing – and we could not move. The children, women and men were screaming.”
The Israeli military said it had conducted an operation overnight to destroy a network of Hamas tunnels that it dubbed “the metro”, but no troops had entered Gaza. It added that – over the course of Thursday evening and Friday morning – 220 more projectiles were fired from the Gaza Strip.
In southern Israel, an 87-year-old woman died after falling on her way to a bomb shelter near Ashdod. Other areas including Ashkelon, Beersheba and Yavne were also targeted.
Gaza’s health ministry said 31 children were among those killed since fighting began, and many other civilians have died. Another 900 Gazans have also been wounded. Israel says dozens of those killed in Gaza were militants, and some of the deaths were caused by misfired rockets from Gaza.
In other news – Ten family members killed in Israeli strike on Gaza
Ten members of a single extended family were killed in an Israeli air strike early Saturday on the western Gaza Strip, medics in the Palestinian enclave said.
The eight children and two women were killed when a three-storey building in Shati refugee camp collapsed following an Israeli strike, medical sources said. Learn more
Source: BBC
