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Smoke rises from Gaza City after Israel airstrikes kill at least 42 people
The Israeli army unleashed heavy airstrikes on Gaza City in the early hours of Monday morning, bombing what it said were underground tunnels used by Hamas militants.
Just before 2am, dozens of Israeli warplanes launched a heavy bombardment in what the army says is a bid to destroy the underground “metro” system.
Civilians on the ground described as many as 50 airstrikes in just 10 minutes, with photos showing the night’s sky over Gaza city alight with fire.
The bombardment came as fighting entered its second week, with at least 197 Palestinians, including 58 children, killed in the days before Monday’s fresh assault, according to figures provided by the Gaza Health Ministry.
Meanwhile, ten people have been killed in Israel, including two children, Israeli authorities have said.
The surge in violence shows no sign of stopping, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to continue the campaign at “full force”, despite international calls for calm.
Israeli warplanes unleash heavy airstrikes on Gaza City in overnight assault
Israeli warplanes unleashed heavy airstrikes on Gaza City in overnight assault they said was aimed at destroying an underground tunnel system used by Hamas militants.
Dozens of Israeli warplanes launched a heavy bombardment of the blockaded strip just before 2am on Monday, the country’s army has said.
The army said it was once again targeting the “metro” – an underground tunnel system it has said militants are using to navigate without being tracked.
Civilians on the ground described as many as 50 airstrikes in just 10 minutes, while photos showed the night’s sky over Gaza city alight with fire.
The army it hit a total of 35 targets, and 15km of the tunnel system.
Residents of Gaza city have said that several roads leading to the strip’s largest hospital Al-Shifa had been hit in the assault.
Witnesses also said security buildings and militant training camps had been attacked in and around Gaza City.
Militants in Gaza had continued to fire rockets at Israel up until the heavy bombardment.
The Israeli military has said that a total of 3,100 rockets have so far been fired at Israel from Gaza over the last seven days.
That number is just 900 short of the total number of rockets fired during the entirety of the 7-week 2014 Gaza war.
Chantal Da Silva17 May 2021 07:48
Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live blog tracking the latest developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Chantal Da Silva17 May 2021 07:41
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