The Gaza Strip is plunged into chaos, where hostilities between Israel and Hamas continue with undiminished intensity. Rocket launches and Israeli retaliation have claimed the lives of 35 people in Gaza and five in Israel.
Israel fired hundreds of airstrikes into Gaza on Wednesday morning, while Hamas and other Palestinian fighters fired rockets into Tel Aviv and Beersheba.
A high-rise apartment building in Gaza collapsed and another building was severely damaged by Israeli strikes.
Israel says it targeted Hamas officials, and that they were hit, while other strikes targeted rocket launchers, Hamas offices and homes of the group’s leaders.
It was the fiercest exchange of hostilities between Hamas and Israel since 2014 and the situation has raised global concern about the possibility of losing control, as Reuters points out.
UN envoy for Middle East peace Tor Wennesland wrote on Twitter: “Stop the fire immediately. We are escalating towards a large-scale war. Leaders on all sides must take responsibility for de-escalation. The cost of the war in Gaza is overwhelming and it is being paid by ordinary people. “Stop the violence now.”
Homes in Gaza were shaking and the sky was lit up by Israeli attacks, Hamas rockets and anti-aircraft missiles. At least thirty explosions were heard within minutes of dawn.
The Israelis ran to the shelters in communities even 70 kilometers from the Strip in southern Israel, amid explosions in the sky.
In the city of Lod, near Tel Aviv, two people were killed when a rocket hit a vehicle.
The armed wing of Hamas announced that it fired 210 rockets in response to bombings of buildings in Gaza. The Israeli military says nearly a third of the rockets landed in Gaza.
Violence erupted after weeks of violence in Jerusalem during Ramadan, with clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters in and around the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Clashes have escalated in recent days amid a hearing that could lead to the eviction of Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem claimed by Jewish settlers.
Violence also escalated in the West Bank, where a 26-year-old Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli fire during a stone-throwing refugee camp near Hebron.
In the city of Lod a synagogue was set on fire. Arabs allegedly raped her and then set her on fire. Dozens of cars were also set on fire, while shop windows were destroyed, as reported by AMPE.
The mayor of Lod, Haire Revivo, spoke of a “civil war” and called for an immediate ban on night traffic in the city.
Serious incidents also broke out in the predominantly Arab cities of Ako (north) and Jaffa (near Tel Aviv).
A 25-year-old Arab was killed by gunfire in Lod. A 34-year-old Jew suspected of murder has been arrested, police said.
Lod is described as a hotbed of social tensions in Israel. The crime rate in the city is high.
The Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu imposed a state of emergency in the city.
Air defense sirens, warning of incoming rockets, sounded in Tel Aviv in the early hours of today, amid the fiercest clashes between Israel and the Palestinians in recent years.
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