Israel attacks Gaza’s sole Covid-19 laboratory as diplomatic efforts intensify

Israel has been targeting hospitals and coronavirus testing facilities in Gaza, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said while speaking to SAMAA TV on Tuesday.

Their infrastructure facilities are being targeted: its power generation plants are running out and food supplies are finishing. People don’t have water or electricity.

The United Nations General Assembly scheduled for May 20 can play an important part in the de-escalation of violence. The Security Council could, unfortunately, not reach any conclusion.

Qureshi, who is in Turkey, said that he will meet the Turkish foreign minister today. We have reservations that the Israeli foreign minister’s departure for the UNGA is being delayed.

He remarked that citizen journalists have played an important role in bringing out the reality of the Israeli airstrikes and other atrocities. “Media has to play its part in awakening people’s conscience.”

The foreign minister requested all Pakistanis to show solidarity with Palestinians on May 21 and raise their voice against Israel.

He even claimed that Muslim countries have played an integral role in raising awareness about atrocities against Palestinians. OIC is not silent. “Saudi Arabia played an important part. I want to thank them for their support and clear cut position on the matter,” he added.

Only the people have the power to veto and Israel will have to listen to the public opinion. “Tel Aviv is a part of this world too.” He remarked that the next 48 hours are quite important.

He shared that people in the US have been raising their voice against the atrocities too. Listen to the stance of Senator Bernie Sanders and Labour Party’s Jeremy Corbyn in the UK.

Security Council’s emergency meeting

The UN Security Council was due to hold an emergency meeting Tuesday amid a flurry of urgent diplomacy aimed at stemming Israel airstrikes that have killed more than 200 Palestinians.

A fireball accompanied by a plume of black smoke erupted over a Gaza building early Tuesday after the latest Israeli strike, an AFP journalist reported.

Despite growing calls for an end to the bombardment, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Monday that Israel would “continue striking at the terrorist targets”. 

Israel launched its air campaign on the Gaza Strip on May 10 after the enclave’s rulers, the Islamist group Hamas, fired rockets in response to unrest in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

In total, Israeli airstrikes have killed 212 Palestinians, including 61 children, in Gaza — whilst rockets fired by Palestinian armed groups have killed 10 people in Israel, including a child, according to officials on both sides.

The Security Council session scheduled for Tuesday is the fourth since the conflict escalated and was called after the United States, a key Israel ally, blocked the adoption of a joint statement calling for a halt to the violence on Monday for the third time in a week.

US President Joe Biden, having resisted joining other world leaders and much of his own Democratic party in calling for an immediate end to hostilities, told Netanyahu Monday night he backs a ceasefire but stopped short of demanding a truce.

In a statement on Monday, the White House said Biden “expressed his support for a ceasefire and discussed US engagement with Egypt and other partners towards that end”. The President reiterated his firm support for Israel’s right to defend itself against indiscriminate rocket attacks, the statement read.

Israel continued its barrage overnight, setting the night sky over the densely populated coastal enclave ablaze as multiple strikes crashed into buildings in Gaza City shortly after midnight, AFP journalists reported.

The Israeli army said Tuesday it had struck 65 “targets” inside Gaza overnight, while Palestinian militants had fired 70 rockets, dozens of which were intercepted by air defences.

Covid-19 lab hit

Late Monday, strikes had knocked out Gaza’s only Covid-19 testing laboratory and damaged the office of the Qatari Red Crescent.

The rate of positive coronavirus tests in Gaza has been among the highest in the world, at 28 percent. 

Very concerning news from #Gaza: the Qatar #RedCrescent office was bombarded. Civilians, humanitarian teams and their infrastructures, medical staff, ambulances and hospitals, media are #NotATarget. Our @ifrc solidarity to @QRCS volunteers and staff pic.twitter.com/lFVc4areuG

— Francesco Rocca (@Francescorocca) May 17, 2021

Hospitals in the poverty-stricken territory, which has been under Israeli blockade for almost 15 years, have been overwhelmed by patients.

Gaza resident Roba Abu al-Awf, 20, said she expected a rough night.

“We have nothing to do but sit at home,” she said. “Death could come at any moment — the bombing is crazy and indiscriminate.”

Israeli fire has cratered roads and battered crucial infrastructure, causing blackouts and prompting the electricity authority to warn Monday it only had enough fuel left to provide power for another two to three days.

The conflict risks precipitating a humanitarian disaster, with the UN saying nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced and 2,500 have lost their homes.

Palestinian militants have fired around 3,350 rockets toward Israel in the heaviest exchange of fire in years.

Hamas has threatened more rocket strikes on Tel Aviv if bombing of residential areas does not stop.

Fighter jets hit what the Israeli military dubs the “metro”, its term for Hamas’s underground tunnels, which Israel has previously acknowledged run in part through civilian areas.

Rockets were also fired at Israel from Lebanon, where protests against Israel’s Gaza campaign have been held in the border area.

The Israeli army said the six rockets did not reach its territory.

Additional input from AFP.