JERUSALEM — In the worst outbreak of violence since Israel and Hamas fought a 50-day war in the summer of 2014, Israeli military jets pounded targets in the coastal Palestinian enclave while militant Gaza groups struck Israeli communities with rockets and mortars throughout the night and well into Tuesday.
The latest flare-up in an already tense arena was triggered by a botched undercover Israeli military operation inside Gaza that turned deadly on Sunday night. Authorities on both sides reported more deaths Tuesday morning as Egyptian and U.N. mediators tried to broker a cease-fire.
In Israel, one person was killed and two others were seriously injured when a rocket hit a four-story residential building in the city of Ashkelon.
In Gaza, the Health Ministry said seven people were killed in the Israeli airstrikes, including militants, and that 25 were injured. Several prominent buildings were destroyed by Israeli bombs, including the headquarters of al-Aqsa television, a Hamas-run satellite channel.
The targeted sites belonged to both Hamas, the militant Islamist group that rules the Gaza Strip, and the second-largest militant faction in Gaza, Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Briefing the news media Tuesday morning, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli army spokesman, said this was “the most severe attack on Israeli civilians by terrorist organizations from Gaza since our 2014 operation.”
A Palestinian boy stands next to the rubble of Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV station building which was hit by Israeli airstrikes on Nov. 13 in Gaza City. (Khalil Hamra/AP)
Close to 400 projectiles, a mix of rockets and mortars, were fired at Israel after hostilities flared Monday afternoon, he said. A large portion were struck down by the Iron Dome defense system, but given the high number, Conricus said, some succeeded in scoring direct hits on homes and buildings.
[After more than 2,100 deaths, the Gaza war ends where it began]
In response, Israeli military jets hit more than 100 sites across the strip, including what Conricus called “four strategic assets belonging to Hamas.” Besides the TV station headquarters, other buildings housing its old offices and Hamas’s military intelligence bureau were also destroyed.
In central Gaza City, near the seafront, the militant group’s four-story internal security building was reduced to rubble, which filled the nearby street. Some houses were damaged as well.
The army also said Tuesday that its naval forces struck Hamas ships, as well as numerous weapons storehouses and manufacturing facilities.
“It is Israel that initiated this round of violence,” said Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official. “Israel didn’t respect all the efforts being done and understandings reached to restore calm around the borders. Israel must take responsibility for its madness, which has led to the total deterioration of the situation on the ground.”
“Gaza is still looking for calm and a better tomorrow,” he said.
Abu Hamza, spokesman for Islamic Jihad’s al-Quds Brigades, said the overnight bombardments, including on homes belonging to faction members, has led “to a decision to expand the circle of response.”
He warned residents of the Israeli cities of Beersheba and Ashdod “to stay alongside their shelters.”
Egypt has urged Israel to stop the escalation of violence and is working with the Palestinians to end hostilities, according to Egyptian state television Tuesday.
U.N. Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov said the United Nations was working with Egypt to end the latest round of hostilities, which he described as “extremely dangerous.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has remained conspicuously silent since the start of the latest violence, convened his security cabinet Tuesday morning as residents of Israel’s southern cities, forced to stay indoors and near protected areas, expressed their anger and frustration that a long-term diplomatic solution to the continual rounds of hostilities has yet to be found.
Israel and Hamas have fought three wars in 10 years, with flare-ups becoming increasingly frequent in recent months as Hamas has urged residents to protest at the fence along the border with Israel.
Since March, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed, mostly by Israeli sniper fire, in weekly demonstrations protesting the increasingly difficult humanitarian conditions in the strip, where Israel imposes tight restrictions on trade and travel. Recent U.S. cuts to aid for Palestinians have exacerbated their woes.
Israel maintains that the protests are a cover for Hamas militants to infiltrate into Israel.
Gaza militants also have taken to floating incendiary kites and balloons across the border, igniting fires.
There had been a glimmer of hope this past weekend that a long-term understanding to restore calm, mediated by Egypt, the United Nations and Qatar, was proving fruitful. Israel on Thursday took the unusual step of permitting $15 million in cash from Qatar to enter Gaza to pay long-delayed salaries of Hamas civil servants in an attempt to ease the suffering of the territory’s 2 million residents.
[Botched Israeli army operation in Gaza triggers sharp escalation in violence]
That understanding appears to have been wrecked by the botched Israeli covert operation that took place Sunday night. Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, chief of the general staff of the Israel Defense Forces, said an undercover team was involved in a “very meaningful operation for Israel’s security.”
The unit, which had penetrated at least two miles inside the Gaza Strip, was discovered, leading to an exchange of fire between the troops and Palestinian fighters. A senior Israeli officer was killed, along with seven Palestinian militants, including a Hamas commander.
The Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, said in a statement that the Israeli team was two miles inside Gaza in a civilian car when the fight broke out. Residents in the area, east of the town of Khan Younis, said a group of Hamas fighters stopped the vehicle carrying the Israelis to check their identities. It was then that the Israeli unit fatally shot Nour Baraka, a local Hamas leader, and another militant, they said.
Anticipating a deeper response following the incident, Israel’s military deployed extra infantry troops and air defenses to the border Monday.
Balousha reported from Gaza City.
Read more
Israelis kill more than 50 Palestinians in Gaza fence protests
[Tensions rise as Gaza militants fire more than 70 mortars, rockets into Israel]
[Tensions escalate as Israeli jets pound targets in Gaza in response to rocket fire]
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