Grief mounts as efforts to ease Israel-Hamas fight falter [1]
Monday, May 17, 2021 - 22:31. Updated on Thursday, June 8, 2023 - 11:11.
New York Times reporting
by Iyad Abuheweila and Patrick Kingsley
Diplomats and international leaders were unable Sunday to mediate a cease-fire in the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel vowed to continue the fight and the United Nations Security Council failed to agree on a joint response to the worsening bloodshed.
The diplomatic wrangling occurred after the fighting — the most intense seen in Gaza and Israel for seven years — entered its deadliest phase yet. At least 42 Palestinians were killed early Sunday morning in an airstrike on several apartments in Gaza City, Palestinian officials said, the conflict’s most lethal episode so far.
Netanyahu’s vow proved true several hours later when, The Associated Press reported, Israeli warplanes unleashed a series of heavy airstrikes at several Gaza locations early Monday.
Explosions rocked the city from north to south for 10 minutes in an attack that was heavier, that covered a wider area and that lasted longer than a series of air raids 24 hours earlier in which the 42 Palestinians were killed — the deadliest single attack in the latest round of violence between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist militant group that rules Gaza.
Local media reports said among the targets that were hit early Monday were the main coastal road west of Gaza City, security compounds and open spaces. The power distribution company said the airstrikes damaged a line feeding electricity from the only power plant to large areas in the southern part of the city.
There were no immediate reports of injuries.
The number of people killed in Gaza rose to 197 over the seven days of the conflict, according to Palestinian officials, while the number of Israeli residents killed by Palestinian militants climbed to 11, including one soldier, the Israeli government said.
“Citizens of Israel,” Netanyahu said in a speech Sunday, “our campaign against the terrorist organizations is continuing with full force.”
Netanyahu’s pledge came amid rising international criticism of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, which began May 10 after Hamas fired rockets at Jerusalem after a month of rising tensions between Palestinians and Israelis in the holy city.
Goal to destroy
The Israeli army says its goal is to destroy the military infrastructure of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian enclave of about 2 million people that is under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade. Israel blames Hamas for the civilian casualties in Gaza, saying the group hides militants in residential areas.
That explanation came under intense scrutiny over the weekend when Israeli jets destroyed a tower in Gaza City that housed two major international news outlets, The Associated Press and Al-Jazeera, after calling the building’s owner and telling him to evacuate tenants. An Israeli strike also killed at least 10 members of the same family in a house in a refugee camp and caused collateral damage to a clinic run by Doctors Without Borders, a medical aid group.
Risk of viral contagion
The Israeli bombardment has forced 38,000 people to seek sanctuary in dozens of U.N. schools, the U.N. said. Gaza now faces power failures at least 16 hours a day, while damage to a desalination plant has threatened the access of about 250,000 people to drinking water, the U.N. said.
Israel’s airstrikes have also stopped all COVID-19 vaccinations and virus testing in the Palestinian enclave and raised the risk of viral contagion as civilians cram into shelters for safety, U.N. officials said.
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