Hunt for survivors
© 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.
Biden Netanyahu
© 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."