© Ashraf Amra/APA ImagesSearch for survivors in Gaza City's Rimal residential district.
May 16, 2021
The Latest:
- Gaza death toll reaches 197 (and counting), including 58 children and 1,225 injuries, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health; 10 Israeli casualties, including one child. 24 schools have been destroyed in Gaza.
- Today was the deadliest day of Israeli attacks on Gaza. Two airstrikes killed at least 43 Palestinians, among them 8 children, this morning, according to the Ministry of Health.
- Israel shells residential neighborhood close to al-Shifa hospital overnight; two doctors among the dead; first responders still pulling people out of the rubble.
- US President Joe Biden reaffirms "strong support for Israel's right to defend itself" in phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
- Palestinian Ministry of Health reports 21 deaths as a result of Israeli aggression in the West Bank since May 7th
- The UN Security Council is meeting this morning in an emergency session. UN Sec'y General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate ceasefire. "Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said, 'Every time Israel hears a foreign leader say it has a right to self-defense it only encourages it to kill entire families in their sleep. Israel kills families in Gaza one by one. Israel expels Palestinians from Jerusalem - each time a different family. Israel commits war crimes,'" reports Barak Ravid at Axios.
- U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is reported to have called Israeli foreign minister Benny Gantz and expressed concern about the targeting of civilians in Gaza.
New Reports:Israeli forces kill Palestinian man in Sheikh Jarrah after his vehicle rammed into a group of Israeli border police at a police barrier outside the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in occupied East Jerusalem.
Israeli police "deployed heavily in the area following the shooting and closed off the area and prevented medical teams' access to the man."
Reports of an
Israeli settler shooting at Palestinians in the Shufat area in Jerusalem also surfaced early Sunday evening, with the IMEU reporting that at least two Palestinians were injured. Video footage showed an armed Israeli settler patrolling a major street and pointing his guns at vehicles passing by.
The Associated Press' top editor on Sunday called for an independent investigation into the Israeli airstrike that targeted and destroyed a Gaza City building housing the AP, broadcaster Al-Jazeera and other media, saying the public deserves to know the facts.
Sally Buzbee, AP's executive editor, said the Israeli government has yet to provide clear evidence supporting its attack, which leveled the 12-story al-Jalaa tower.
AP has had offices in al-Jalaa tower for 15 years and never was informed or had any indication that Hamas might be in the building.
© YuriCortez/WhatsApp Image/PM OfficeUS President Joe Biden • Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu
US President Joe Biden called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, May 15th to reaffirm the US' "strong support for Israel's right to defend itself against rocket attacks from Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza."
Biden condemned the "indiscriminate attacks against towns and cities across Israel," but made no mention of Israel's bombing of civilians and the killing of dozens of children in Gaza. While Biden "raised concerns about the safety and security of journalists and reinforced the need to ensure their protection,"
he did not express explicit condemnation over Israel's bombing of the al-Jalaa building in Gaza, which houses most of the territory's foreign press offices, including Al Jazeera and the AP.Israel shells Gaza City killing dozens mostly children primarily targeting civilian homes and residential buildings on the al-Wehda street in Gaza City. The airstrikes killed 33 people, though that number is expected to rise.
"We can still hear people shouting from under the rubble," Medhat Hamdan, a civil defense worker in Gaza, who had reportedly been working nonstop for 11 hours to save lives, told Al Jazeera.
Tally of children killed in span of one week reached 52 and at least two doctors, a neuorologist and an internal medicine doctor, had also been killed in the airstrikes. Minister of Health Mai al-Kaila said in a statement: "This aggression must stop. The whole world must protect hospitals, medical and health centers that Israel is attacking at every moment."
Comment: The following offers a roundup of news relating to the devastation and death toll raining down on Gaza from Israeli forces:
Update: 5/15/2021 All the tricks, deadly consequences, unimaginable destruction...but never wrong!
Apologizing for his warning tweet that saw him accused of tricking the media, Israel Defense Forces Brigadier Gen. Hidai Zilberman pushed back against growing accusations that a previous tweet was used to gain a tactical advantage over Hamas this week.
Update: 5/15/2021 Multiple videos showed night skies lit with rocket fire out of Gaza and Iron Dome missiles launched to intercept:
The midnight strikes came shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech vowing that Israel will continue to strike Gaza "as long as necessary."
Update: 5/16/2021 Secretary-General Guterres issues
a warning as he opens an emergency UN Security Council session on the escalation in Israel and Gaza:
"The utterly appalling hostilities in Israel and Gaza could plunge the whole region into an uncontrollable crisis. The fighting must stop. The fighting must stop immediately." The ongoing situation "has the potential to unleash an uncontainable security and humanitarian crisis and to further foster extremism, not only in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel but in the region as a whole. The United Nations is actively engaging all sides toward an immediate ceasefire. Both sides must allow mediation efforts to intensify and succeed."
He also expressed dismay over growing civilian casualties in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and criticized the destruction of media offices in Gaza. Guterres' spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said in a statement on behalf of the United Nations secretary-general:
"The Secretary-General reminds all sides that any indiscriminate targeting of civilian and media structures violates international law and must be avoided at all costs. He is dismayed by the increasing number of civilian casualties, including the death of ten members of the same family, including children, as a result of an Israeli airstrike last night in the al-Shati camp in Gaza, purportedly aimed at a Hamas leader. He is deeply disturbed by the destruction by an Israeli airstrike today of a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed the offices of several international media organizations."
Despite criticism by the U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who urged both parties to stop the fighting immediately, Netanyahu responded:
"Our campaign against the terrorist organizations is continuing with full force. We are acting now, for as long as necessary, to restore calm and quiet to you, Israel's citizens. It will take time."
Update: 5/16/2021 As expected,
none of the death and destruction is Israel's fault:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shifted all the blame for the deadly spiral of violence on Hamas in a Saturday night address, accusing the militant group of committing a "double war crime" - all while Israel is "doing everything possible to protect our civilians and keep Palestinian civilians out of harm's way."
Update: 5/16/2021 Spokesperson for United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) had these concerns:
Juliette Touma, UNICEF Chief of Communications for the Middle East and North Africa, told RT on Saturday. Touma called on all sides to stop fighting.
"It's a terrifying situation. Only in the past five days we have reported that at least 40 children have been killed in the Gaza Strip. Violence will not bring a solution. Violence will only bring more violence. It means children will suffer first, and they will suffer the most. Right now, when it comes to Gaza - no place is safe for children."
The spokesperson noted that more than 30 schools were damaged in Gaza and three in Israel. UNICEF is working on the ground to deliver medical supplies in the Palestinian Arab enclave, as many locals have found shelter in UN-run educational facilities. She added that two children were killed in Israel during the same period.
Gazan health officials said that the Palestinian death toll surpassed 180 on Sunday, with at least 52 victims being children. In Israel, 10 people were killed over the past week.
Update: 5/16/2021 As the attacks continue, Israel claims to have
targeted and taken out the home of Hamas' leader:
IDF spokesperson Brigadier General Hidai Zilberman confirmed to Israeli media that the military targeted the home of Yehiyeh Sinwar, the top Hamas leader in Gaza, who is said to live in the town of Khan Younis. Al Jazeera cited a Hamas TV station confirming Sinwar's home was attacked. The IDF also struck the home of his brother, another senior Hamas member, but it's not clear if the two shared a residence. It is also not known if Sinwar was at home during the raid.
Note: In addition to
AP, Al Jazeera, BBC facilities destroyed in the recent Gaza bombing, also included was
Middle East Eye.Update: 5/16/2021 Any sign of abatement? Glimmers from Israeli officials indicate global pressure for ceasefire are mounting (but not from Biden):
US President Joe Biden, speaking with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, "reaffirmed his strong support for Israel".
Senior defence officials were reportedly urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Benny Gantz to start working toward a ceasefire. An end to the IDF operation was sought based on the understanding that the military had met most of its goals since the start of the operation on 10 May. The ceasefire would be mediated by Egypt - however, one issue which is on the agenda is Israel altering its position on Egyptian proposals to open ceasefire talks. If Hamas has a ceasefire proposal, Israel is willing to listen. Diplomatic activity has so far failed to achieve any breakthrough.
On Sunday, a building of the Labour Ministry in the Gaza Strip was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike, while a nearby building of the Ministry of Social Development was heavily damaged, stated the press service of the Gaza Strip government.
See also:
R.C.