Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced on Tuesday (11) that Israel will step up the force and frequency of attacks on the Gaza region after the second day of rocket fire that left at least 28 dead – two in Israel and 26 in Gaza .
The escalation of hostilities between Israel and Hamas – considered a terrorist faction by Israel, the United States and the European Union – was sparked by clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem Monday (10).
According to Gaza’s health ministry, at least 26 Palestinians have died, including nine children, and 122 were injured in the Israeli reaction after Hamas attacked Jerusalem for the first time since 2014.
In Israel, authorities have confirmed that two women died in rocket attacks in the southern city of Ashkelon. Police said more than 30 people were injured, although the military said its air defenses intercepted around 90 percent of the shots fired from Gaza.
In the northern Gaza city of Beit Hanooun, Abdel-Hamid Hamad told Reuters news agency that his 11-year-old nephew Hussein was killed on Monday in what residents called an Israeli airstrike. The boy was collecting firewood when he was hit.
“Gaza has had enough and nothing makes a difference now. Our children are being killed. What should we do?” Hamad said.
Israel challenges Gaza authorities’ reports of casualties, claiming it killed at least 15 Hamas fighters and that a third of the hundreds of rockets launched by Islamic militants have landed in its own territory and caused the remainder to be killed. .
Jerusalem, revered by Jews, Palestinians, Christians and Muslims, has been in a state of tension since the start of Ramadan, the holy month of Islam. At the heart of the conflict are freedom of worship in parts of the Old City – which Palestinians say is hampered – and a court ruling that provides for the eviction of Palestinian families from a disputed area of Jerusalem.