Israel launches airstrikes
July 16, 2014
Israeli warplanes launched airstrikes against the homes of several senior Hamas officials on Wednesday, a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed to "expand and intensify" Israel's campaign against the Islamist group, which serves as the democratically elected government of Gaza.
The first major airstrike flattened the home of senior Hamas figure Mahmud al-Zahar in the western part of Gaza City, according to security officials. Witnesses said that al-Zahar was not in his home when it was destroyed.
Israel targeted the homes of at least three other Hamas officials in Gaza City and Jabalia. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Meanwhile, an airstrike in the southern city of Rafah killed at least three people, one of whom was a member of the extremist group Islamic Jihad, according to witnesses.
Ceasefire fails
On Tuesday evening, Israel had warned residents of northern Gaza to evacuate their homes in anticipation of airstrikes. According to a report by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, at least 100,000 Gazans were affected by the warning.
Egypt brokered a ceasefire on Tuesday, which Israel accepted. But Hamas rejected the agreement, saying that it had not been consulted.
More than 190 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli airstrikes since the start of "Operation Protective Edge" eight days ago. On Sunday, the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs said that more than 130 of the Palestinian dead were civilians.
Meanwhile, Israel suffered its first casualty of the conflict on Tuesday, when mortar fire hit the Erez border crossing, killing a civilian delivering food to Israeli soldiers.
The Israeli military says that it has launched more than 1,500 airstrikes against the small, Mediterranean enclave packed with 1.7 million people. Palestinian militants have fired nearly 1,000 rockets into Israel, according to Israeli estimates.
slk/mz (AFP, dpa, Reuters)