Gaza/Jerusalem, May 15

Israel pummelled Gaza with air strikes and Palestinian militants launched rockets at Tel Aviv and other cities on Saturday, with no sign yet of an end to their worst escalation since 2014.

The Israeli bombardment killed more than 15 Palestinians in Gaza overnight and on Saturday, medics said. Rockets fired by Hamas militant group has left nine, including two children, dead in Israel.

A 12-storey Gaza tower block housing the offices of the US-based Associated Press and Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera as well as other offices and apartments collapsed on Saturday after being struck by Israeli missiles. The owner of the building had been warned of an impending Israeli missile strike, a journalist said, and the building had been evacuated. No injuries were reported.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike on the building. Hamas militants fired barrages of rockets overnight and during the day at Israel. Israeli planes hit what the military said were sites used by Hamas, the Islamist group running Gaza. — Reuters