• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Republica Press

Your Business & Political News Source

REPUBLICA PRESS
Your Business & Political News Source

  • Home
  • BUSINESS
  • MONEY
  • POLITICS
  • REAL ESTATE
  • SCIENCE/TECH
  • US
  • WORLD

Israel Hits Gaza With Airstrikes as Hamas Increases Rocket Fire

by

ASHKELON, Israel — The Israeli military, prepared for the latest eruption of cross-border fighting with militant groups in Gaza, designated a code name for its operation just hours after the deadly violence began: Guardians of the Walls, a reference to the ancient ramparts of the Old City of Jerusalem. The militant groups had their own code name for their campaign: Sword of Jerusalem.

By early Tuesday morning, barely 12 hours after Hamas, the Islamist militant group that holds sway in Gaza, had launched a surprise volley of rockets toward Jerusalem, Israel had carried out at least 130 retaliatory airstrikes in the Palestinian coastal territory, according to an Israeli military spokesman, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus. Militant groups had fired at least 200 rockets into Israel, Colonel Conricus said.

Twenty-three Palestinians, including nine children, were killed in the airstrikes overnight and 107 others were wounded, according to health officials in Gaza.

speaking on public radio from his hospital bed a few hours later, said that the rocket had landed in his son’s bedroom and that the family had not had time to reach the safety of the stairwell. “Lucky he was not there,” he said of his son. “I found myself lying on the floor, not understanding what had happened.”

Sitting among the shattered glass in her son’s second-floor apartment, Maria Nagiv, 61, said she understood little about the events that had led to the attack.

“What happened in Jerusalem?” she asked as shards crunched beneath her feet. “I haven’t been following anything about that.”

She added: “All the world says that the Jews make trouble. But what have I done wrong? I didn’t do anything, and they still send us bombs.”

A few minutes later, the sirens sounded again, warning of another rocket nearby.

The Iron Dome, an Israeli antimissile defense system, successfully intercepts about 90 percent of rockets headed for populated areas, according to military officials. But the system failed on Tuesday morning in Ashkelon.

Most of the rockets fired out of Gaza during this round of fighting have been short-range projectiles, primarily aimed at civilian communities within a few miles of the border. Israeli schools within a 25-mile radius of Gaza were ordered closed on Tuesday.

The Israeli military said that its targets had included the weapons manufacturing sites of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another militant group, as well as military facilities and two offensive tunnels. A Hamas battalion commander who was at home in a residential apartment building was also targeted, according to the military.

Images from Gaza showed a corner apartment on an upper floor of a multistory building that had been destroyed. Raed al-Dahshan, a Gaza civil defense spokesman, said that the bodies of three people had been removed from the ruins of the building; health officials said that they were civilians. Neither the location nor the condition of the person said to be a battalion commander was immediately clear.

The military wing of Hamas, known as the Qassam Brigades, issued a statement after the strike on the building warning Israel that if it kept hitting civilian houses, “We will turn Ashkelon into hell.”

The barrage of rockets quickly followed.

Iyad Abuheweila contributed reporting from Gaza City and Myra Noveck from Jerusalem.

View Source

Filed Under: WORLD Tagged With: Al Aqsa Mosque (Jerusalem), Beit Hanoun (Gaza Strip), Children, Deaths (Fatalities), Demonstrations, Protests and Riots, Economy, Egypt, Family, Gas, Gaza, Hamas, Health, Israel, Military, Palestinians, Police, safety, Schools, Strikes, unemployment

Primary Sidebar

More to See

Stained Glass in a $1.5M Converted Church in St. Louis Is Simply Divine

It’s a property that offers a unique open floor plan—plus a hot tub with a view.“It was a Methodist church located in a historic little area of St. … [Read More...] about Stained Glass in a $1.5M Converted Church in St. Louis Is Simply Divine

Singapore Pharmacy Platform Startup Lands $27 Million In Bill Gates-Backed Funding Round

More From ForbesMay 23, 2022,08:09am EDTChina EV Maker XPeng Loss More Than Doubles Amid Covid Woes","scope":{"topStory":{"index":1,"title":"China EV … [Read More...] about Singapore Pharmacy Platform Startup Lands $27 Million In Bill Gates-Backed Funding Round

SpaceX president defends Elon Musk over sexual misconduct claims: ‘I believe the allegations to be false’

SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell defended Elon Musk in an email to employees last week, responding to sexual misconduct allegations directed … [Read More...] about SpaceX president defends Elon Musk over sexual misconduct claims: ‘I believe the allegations to be false’

Copyright © 2022 · Republica Press · Log in · As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy