OF THE
TIMES
Multiple videos shared on social media appear to depict the Israeli air defence system in action. The Iron Dome system can ostensibly be seen intercepting multiple rockets over the city, as air raid sirens sound off in the background.There have been Israeli casualties, though as usual, nowhere near the rate of Palestinians:
So far, hundreds of explosions have been recorded across southern and central Israel, per media reports. Sirens could be heard in settlements near Gaza, Beersheba and Tel Aviv and its environs.
A woman has been killed in the city of Holon, south of Tel Aviv, as a volley of rockets was fired towards the city, the Israeli police said on Tuesday. A local ambulance service previously told Sputnik that three people, including a child, had been injured near Tel Aviv.Hamas declares a victory as it claims to have 'changed the balance of power' between Israel and Palestine:
Meanwhile, Channel 20 reported that one person in Rishon LeZion died as a result of the rocket attacks.
Ismail Haniyeh, chief of the Islamiс group Hamas, has claimed the Palestinians have managed to accomplish a "new" balance of power in their fight against Israel after the militant group intensified its rocket attacks on central areas of the Jewish state on Tuesday evening.Palestinians across the Occupied Territories have taken to the streets, encouraged by Hamas' retaliatory strikes. Netanyahu is struggling to control the situation.
"We have achieved victory in the battle for Jerusalem, the defence of Jerusalem", Haniyeh said, referring to the city as "the axis of conflict".
"What is taking place right now is an honour for our people, our nation. There is a new balance of power right now", the Hamas leader argued as he pledged that his group "would not abandon Jerusalem" and would not give up "resistance".
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared a state of emergency in Lod, a mixed Arab-Jewish city that has recently seen widespread and violent rioting.Hamas reports the death of one of its senior officers says The Times of Israel:
The prime minister's office announced the decision after a special meeting of the nation's top security and legal officials. Amir Ohana, the police minister, has confirmed that he will use his authority to carry out the orders.
According to the statement, Netanyahu called on law enforcement officials to ensure the restoration of public order and strengthen ground forces as soon as possible.
Alongside Netanyahu at the meeting were Ohana, Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz, Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai, National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat, and Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit.
Earlier, Netanyahu and Gantz ordered Border Police battalions from the Judea and Samaria region to be "immediately" transferred to the area.
Local media and eyewitnesses reported that the country's police conducted an emergency evacuation of the city's Jewish residents amid violent unrest and clashes between Arabs and Israelis. According to videos shared on social media, shootings have since erupted in the city.
Hamas's armed wing confirmed the death of a senior commander and a number of fighters in an Israeli targeted strike.
"With pride, fortitude and defiance, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades take pride in... the martyrdom of the commander Bassem Issa," the armed Hamas branch says in a statement.
According to the terror group, Issa was Hamas's Gaza City commander in the al-Qassam Brigades.
Gas stations along the Southeast coast are being slammed by panic buying and long lines amid the shutdown of the biggest oil pipeline in the US from a crippling cyberattack believed to be orchestrated by a Russia-based criminal group.
The closure of the 5,500-mile Colonial Pipeline, which carries more than 100 million gallons of fuel from Texas to New Jersey each day, has stretched into its fifth day.
It sparked wild scenes of panic buying across Georgia, Florida, Virginia and South Carolina — with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp even declaring states of emergency in their areas. Kemp also issued an executive order suspending Georgia's gas tax through Saturday to help offset the costs of higher fuel prices.
"I DON'T HAVE ANY GAS AND THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA DOESN'T HAVE GAS!! WHAT IN THE 2021 IS GOING ON !!" one panicked driver tweeted.
Yasheeka Wiggin told CBS News that the "unbelievable" lines in Marion, S.C., left her thinking "it was a catastrophe coming!"
"I've seen all these cars waiting and I was like, 'OMG. I have to fill my tank up!'" Wiggin told the network.
Many motorists took to social media to share shocking scenes of massive lines at gas stations — often just to find no gas left.
Others shared images of panic-buyers filling up several gas canisters at once, with memes comparing it to the rush to buy toilet paper at the start of the coronavirus lockdown last year.
Tallahassee Democrat journalist Alicia Devine posted video of an "insane" line of cars waiting for gas in the Florida state capital — one of the few she found that even had any.
"I've visited five gas stations this morning and the Costco one is the first to have gas," she wrote.
"A Costco employee just told a car trying to get in line 'you'll have to find the end of the line. I don't know where that is.'"
In South Carolina, Greg Suskin of WSOC9 posted a video of cars waiting at a gas station that had completely run dry, saying that "people here told me they'd been to other stations and found the same."
When he finally found some, he said a station worker stuck an "out of gas" sign on his pump as he got the very last of its supply.
"Everyone's panicking," Citi Stop gas station worker Jessica Alcocer told the Citizen Times of the store in Asheville, N.C., that ran out Monday afternoon.
The American Automobile Association (AAA) said that the biggest problem was actually panic buyers draining supplies.
"People hear something and panic," Tiffany Wright, spokeswoman for AAA Carolinas, told the Citizen Times, insisting supplies were otherwise normal.
Still, one TikToker wrote, "They will try telling you that there is no gas shortage. NC, SC, FL, AL, AR, TN, KY, GA, and VA disagree."
[...]
Comment: That final comment perfectly encapsulates the elite's attitude. Here it is in another format, fully fleshed-out, let's say:
"Only 'vetted' political types make it to the top tier. None of the signatories of this letter are from within that elite tier, so who cares what some low-life right-wingers think about our regime! We rule, you obey. Got it?"
The open letter can be found here.