GAZA CITY: Four Palestinians were killed in a new Israeli strike on Gaza yesterday, the Hamas health ministry spokesman said, as multiple new raids struck throughout the territory.
“Three citizens were martyred in a strike in Maghazi camp and their bodies were taken to Shuhada Al Aqsa Hospital,” Ashraf Al Qudra said, adding subsequently that a fourth man was killed in the same strike.
The raid, in the central Gaza Strip, targeted a home, he said, and two of those killed were brothers. It was not immediately clear if they were civilians or militants.
The latest deaths raised the toll in violence that began on Wednesday afternoon to 28, with at least 270 people wounded, Palestinian officials said.
They came as fresh air strikes rattled buildings throughout the enclave, with officials reporting strikes in Gaza City, central Khan Yunis and southern Rafah.
Since Israel’s targeted killing of a top Hamas chief on Wednesday afternoon, rockets fired from Gaza have killed three Israelis and injured another 16, police and medics said.
A rocket fired from Gaza has landed close to Jerusalem, bringing closer the possibility of a ground offensive by Israeli troops in the three-day-old conflict.
Hamas said it had launched the long-range missile as air raid sirens sounded across the city at the start of Shabbat, the Jewish sabbath. It claimed it was targeting the Israeli parliament, the Knesset.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed that a rocket struck on the city outskirts - believed to be the settlement block of Gush Etzion - causing no injuries. A photograph published by the Palestinian news agency, Maan, showed rocket vapour trails in the sky above Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem.
UN leader Ban Ki-moon will visit the Gaza war region within days to push for a truce between Israel and Hamas as their conflict veers toward all-out war, officials said yesterday. UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said Ban will go to the region “shortly” to “push for an end to violence” and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said the UN secretary general would visit the Palestinian territories in “two or three days.”
Ban will be in Jerusalem on Tuesday or Wednesday, according to UN Diplomats and Israeli media. “Ban went to the region during the last Israeli offensive against Gaza in 2009 and worked hard to end that conflict. He is looking to produce a truce and ceasefire this time as well,” said one senior UN diplomat.
Ban has already spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to urge restraint, while also strongly condemning the rocket attacks from Gaza that Israel blames for its air strikes and its military buildup around the besieged Palestinian territory.
The UN spokesman said the UN leader “urgently appeals to all concerned to do everything under their command to stop this dangerous escalation and restore calm. Rocket attacks are unacceptable and must stop at once. Israel must exercise maximum restraint.”
He said Ban was speaking to the leaders of Middle East nations and the major powers “as part of his efforts to call for restraint and push for an end to violence. As part of those efforts, he plans to visit the region shortly.”
Ban’s “paramount concern” is for civilians on both sides, Nesirky said. The conflict has left at least 23 dead in Gaza and three people in Israel since Wednesday. “All sides must respect their obligations under international humanitarian law” to protect civilians, Nesirky said.Agencies
