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Rabat – Around 26 Palestinians, including eight children, were killed in Gaza in the early hours of Sunday after Israeli military forces fired rockets as violence continues for the seventh consecutive day.
The death toll in Gaza has risen to 174 people, including 47 children, according to Palestinian health authorities. Fatalities were also observed on the Israeli sides, with Israel’s health authorities reporting 10 deaths following Hamas’ retaliatory airstrikes.
Hamas said it will continue striking Israel after the Israeli army destroyed a 12-storey building headquartering the US’ Associated Press (AP) and Qatar-based Al Jazeera media operations.
Israel destroyed the building after it gave a brief evacuation notice. The Israeli military claimed that they demolished the building because it contained Hamas military offices.
The AP expressed its dismay at the attack and demanded Israel to show proof of the existence of Hamas’ military offices in the building.
“We have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building,” the AP said in a statement.
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Observers have said the airstrikes on international press headquarters in Palestine show that Israel is attempting to prevent journalists from continuously reporting on its violence and killing of Palestinian civilians. In retaliation for the destruction of the Al-Jala building, Hamas fired 120 rockets overnight at Israel, killing 10 Israelis.
The airstrikes began after Hamas launched rockets at Israel for evicting Palestinians from their homes, invading the al-Aqsa mosque and assaulting worshippers.
The violence and the forced home expulsion of Palestinians began after Israeli courts ruled that Israelis have a right over the homes of their ancestors. The court’s ruling claims that Jewish families had properties in Jerusalem prior to the division of the city after the establishment of the state of Israel in Palestine in 1948.
A group of Jewish plaintiffs then said that they had proof of ownership and began illegally forcing Arab Israelis out of their homes.
Footage went viral on social media of a discussion between an Israeli and a Palestinian woman in front of her home. In the widely shared video, the Israeli is seen telling the Arab woman that he is just obeying court orders and that someone else will steal her home if he does not.
The resurgence of violence in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has caught the attention of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The court’s top prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, has said that an investigation is “underway into alleged war crimes.”
Bensouda intends to conduct the investigation without the cooperation of Israel which accuses her office of anti-Semitism.
For the ICC prosecutor, war crimes have been committed by both the Israeli military and Hamas.
