Thousands flee homes as Israel continues air raids on Gaza
Gaza City: Israel continued to bombard the Gaza Strip with air raids and artillery shells on Saturday, as it stepped up the deployment of troops and tanks near the besieged Palestinian enclave.
At least 126 Palestinians, including 31 children, have been killed and 920 have been wounded since hostilities flared up on Monday, Al-Jazeera reported.
The death toll is expected to rise, as another series of Israeli air assaults hit the Shati refugee camp in Gaza killing at least seven people, including six children, while burying several others in the rubble.
Thousands of Palestinian families have taken shelter in United Nations-run schools in northern Gaza to escape Israeli artillery fire. The UN has said it estimates approximately 10,000 Palestinians have left their homes in Gaza amid the Israeli offensive.
Despite international calls for an immediate halt of all hostilities, including from United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged the offensive will continue “as needed to restore calm in the state of Israel”.
Hamas fired another barrage of rockets towards Israel, hitting the city of Ashdod early on Saturday.
At least nine people in Israel have also been killed. The Israeli army said hundreds of rockets have been fired from Gaza towards various locations in Israel and they have added reinforcements near the enclave’s eastern lands.
Meanwhile, violence is brewing between Israeli settlers and Palestinian citizens in the occupied West Bank, as well as in Israel.
At least 11 Palestinians have also been killed by Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank.
Rockets fired from Gaza early on Saturday hit a building in Israel’s Ashdod, according to the Jerusalem Post, adding that no one was reported injured in the incident, although a multi-story building sustained some damage.
Hamas earlier said that the latest barrage of rockets were in retaliation to the deadly Israeli air raid that killed several people, including children, at the Shati refugee camp in Gaza.
Israel’s public broadcaster, Kann, also reported that rockets have also been fired in Ashkelon and Shephelah in Israel.
At least seven Palestinians, including six children, are reported killed following another Israeli air assault on a home in the Shati refugee camp west of Gaza.
About 20 people are also believed to be trapped, or buried under the rubble, after Israel launched five missile strikes early on Saturday.
Safa Press agency posted on social media an image showing a pile of concrete debris as several men tried to dig through the rubble of the destroyed structure.
