Israeli soldiers work in an artillery unit that is firing near the Israeli-Gaza border on the Israeli side on May 19, 2021.
Ammar Awad | Reuters
Israel launched a new wave of air strikes over the Gaza Strip early Thursday.
Hamas has since announced that a ceasefire will take place in the next few days. So far, however, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he plans to continue the offensive and told the Israeli media on Wednesday evening that he was “determined to continue this operation until its objective is achieved”.
Moussa Abu Marzouk, a senior Hamas official, told a Lebanese television station that he expected a ceasefire in a day or two as Egypt-led mediation efforts – the only country with open lines of communication with both Hamas leaders and Israel – reports according to persist. US President Joe Biden has told Netahyahu that he anticipates “significant de-escalation in Gaza,” but so far those words have been ignored and the exchange of fire from both sides continues.
The Israeli fighter aircraft bombings early Thursday killed at least one Palestinian, wounded several others and destroyed at least five family homes, according to Gaza health officials. Hamas, the US-named terrorist organization and political party that has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, has fired more than 4,000 rockets at Israel.
The latest violence in the Territory – the worst since 2014 – has killed at least 227 Palestinians, at least 63 of them children.
At least 12 people were killed in Israel, two of them children. Some Hamas rockets have also reportedly landed in Gaza, killing Palestinians as well.
The Israeli military said it hit at least four Hamas commanders ‘homes targeting “military infrastructure” and weapons caches, particularly Hamas’ network of underground tunnels. But these tunnels run under civilian neighborhoods, which means several Palestinian families have lost their homes and many civilians are buried in the rubble.
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