Israel and Hamas traded airstrikes and rocket fire for a third day yesterday, as fears increased that the crisis could deteriorate rapidly.

An alarmed United Nations warned of the possibility of an “all out war” as both sides vowed to continue military action. Israel pounded multi-storey towers in the Gaza Strip, as Hamas countered with rockets and tank fire in the worst military violence in the region since 2014.

World leaders urged both sides to pull back from the edge and the US said it was sending a high-ranking envoy to the region.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country would inflict blows on Hamas “that they couldn’t even dream of”. Benny Gantz, the Israeli defence minister, said his country was not preparing for a ceasefire and would stop military action only when it had achieved “complete quiet”.

Meanwhile, Hamas called for a full-scale intifada, or uprising. Adding to the sense of a worsening situation getting further out of control, a state of emergency was ordered in the city of Lod, close to Tel Aviv, after protests by Israeli Arabs.

The death toll in the conflict reached 62, with 15 children among the lives lost.

All but one of the children were killed in Gaza, where 56 people have died during military action over the last three days. Palestinian health officials said another 335 have been wounded as a result of airstrikes. Among the dead were a string of senior Hamas military figures, which Israel claims to have targeted and killed. The militant group confirmed the death of Bassem Issa, a Hamas commander, claiming they “took pride” in his “martyrdom”.

Israel’s military also suffered its first fatality yesterday, when 21-year-old Sergeant Omer Tabib “was killed as a result of anti-tank missile fire” from Hamas, officials said. At least six Israelis, including three women and a child, have been killed in fire from the blockaded strip, and there were unconfirmed reports yesterday evening of a six-year-old being seriously injured following an attack on the town of Sderot.

The Israeli military said in total over 1,000 rockets had been fired by Hamas on Israel, including nearly a hundred which rained down on the Tel Aviv area on Tuesday night, over 70km away from Gaza, lighting up the sky.

The unprecedented barrage of rockets at times have been so intense it has overwhelmed Israel’s missile defences, causing air raid sirens to wail far further north of the country.

Israeli airstrikes have pounded areas of the Gaza Strip, levelling two well-known apartment towers. The Israeli military said it sent warning shots and made calls to allow people to evacuate the buildings leading to no civilian casualties, but the material losses will be immense. Israel faced heavy criticism over the tactic during the 2014 war.

Just after daybreak yesterday, Israel unleashed dozens of airstrikes in the course of a few minutes, targeting police and security installations, witnesses said. The Hamas-run Interior Ministry said airstrikes destroyed the central police headquarters compound in Gaza City.

Lt Col Jonathan Conricus, a spokesperson for the Israeli military, said their strikes had targeted Hamas military intelligence and anti-tank commanders, as well as weapons stores and factories. He said two infantry brigades were sent to the area, indicating preparations for a possible ground invasion.

Neither side showed signs of backing down: Hamas officials have linked the conflict to the status and situation in Jerusalem, a contested city that both sides claim as their capital. Israeli military officials have spoken of an open-ended conflict.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said he was “gravely concerned” by the situation.

Tor Wennesland, the UN’s Middle East envoy, gave an even more ominous warning: “The cost of war in Gaza is devastating and is being paid by ordinary people. Stop the fire immediately. We’re escalating towards a full-scale war.”

Meanwhile, Turkey’s leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the international community to give Israel a “strong and deterrent lesson” in a phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

The cross-border fighting is the dramatic crescendo to weeks of tensions that have simmered chiefly in the contested city of Jerusalem, that was captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and effectively annexed later.

(© Independent News Service)

Independent News Service