Israel launches new strikes on Gaza as calls for ceasefire grow !

Israel said the air strikes hits Hamas targets, but home and other buildings were also damaged

 

The fighting began after weeks of rising Israeli-Palestinian tension in occupied East Jerusalem that culminated in clashes at a holy site revered by both Muslims and Jews. Hamas, which controls Gaza, began firing rockets after warning Israel to withdraw from the site, triggering retaliatory air strikes. Israel says more than 3,000 rockets have been fired into the country over the past week.

On Monday, rocket warning sirens sounded again, in several areas around southern Israel. One rocket hit an apartment building in the city of Ashdod and several people were reportedly hurt. Palestinian officials in Gaza, meanwhile, said the overnight strikes had caused widespread power cuts and damaged hundreds of homes and other buildings.

"Slept for 3 hours - we are physically safe but had one of the [most] difficult nights," one resident wrote on Twitter.

The overall death toll in the territory now stands at 198, including 58 children and 34 women, with 1,230 injured, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Israel says more than 130 militants are among the dead - but Hamas has not recognized this.

International calls for a ceasefire have continued to mount.

Egypt's President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi said on Monday that his country was "going to great lengths to reach a ceasefire... and hope still exists".

The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on Sunday, and Secretary-General António Guterres warned that further fighting had "the potential to unleash an uncontainable security and humanitarian crisis". He pleaded for an immediate end to the "utterly appalling" violence.