05/17/2021 4:19 PM
Clarín.com
World
Updated 05/17/2021 4:21 PM
The Israeli army said Monday that its navy
attacked a submarine
allegedly belonging to Hamas naval forces and that it was trying to launch an offensive against Israel.
"This is a significant development
,
"
said Jonathan Conricus, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), adding that "the ship was of considerable size."
More than 3,500 rockets have been fired at Israel since the start of hostilities last week.
The IDF says that more than 460 rockets have missed the target and have landed inside the Gaza Strip.
Israel's Iron Dome air defense system
has intercepted 90 percent of the rockets fired at the country.
Stating that Hamas' capabilities to produce rockets have been significantly degraded, Conricus noted that
"it will take a long time for them to recover and that is something important for the future.
The Israeli attack on buildings in Gaza.
AP Photo
The Israeli army said it has hit more than 800 targets, adding that at least 130 militants have been killed.
Gaza health officials reported
that some 200 Palestinians have been killed
, including dozens of children, and that more than 1,000 have been injured.
There have been 10 Israeli deaths, including a child.
Destruction
The streets of Gaza remained deserted on Monday after a new series of nightly bombings by the Israeli army, after a week that left more than 200 dead, the vast majority Palestinians, while
Hamas and Israel turned a deaf ear to international calls for de-escalation.
On the night of Sunday to Monday, Israeli aviation carried out dozens of bombings in the Gaza Strip, where several armed groups fired rockets at Israel.
Hundreds of buildings were damaged
and power outages intensified, according to local authorities, who did not immediately report casualties.
In the afternoon, the streets of the enclave, where two million people live, were deserted, confirmed an AFP journalist.
The Israeli army said in a statement on Monday
that it attacked nine homes owned by Hamas senior officials
, some of which were used to "store weapons", and a ship "suspected of being a submersible naval weapon."
Islamic Jihad, the second Palestinian armed group in the Gaza Strip, announced that Hosam Abu Harbid, one of its commanders,
had been killed in an attack.
"There have never been bombings of this caliber,"
said Mad Abed Rabbo, 39, who lives in western Gaza City and says he feels "horror, fear."
Some 40,000 Palestinians have fled their homes
, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The World Food Program announced on Monday emergency aid for
more than 51,000 people
in the Gaza Strip ravaged by poverty and unemployment.
On Sunday,
42 Palestinians, including at least eight children and two doctors, were killed in
Israeli
shelling
in Gaza, the highest death toll in one day, according to the local Health Ministry.
The head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, on Monday called on Israel and the Palestinians to
"protect civilians and especially children,"
reiterating that Israel, "as a democracy," has a "special duty" in this regard.
In the occupied West Bank, the president of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas received on Monday the American emissary Hady Amr, whom he requested the "necessary intervention" from Washington to stop "Israel's aggression against the Palestinian people," according to the official Wafa agency. .
Amr, who met with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Sunday, stressed the
"importance of reaching a de-escalation"
, according to Wafa.
Israelis, especially those in the south of the country who live with continuous rocket alerts, were called by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to
"limit their outdoor activities."
The Israeli army, which claims that the targets of its bombings are Hamas premises and equipment as well as some commanders and underground tunnels, accuses the Islamist movement of
using civilians as "shields".
The last major confrontation between Israel and Hamas dates back to the summer of 2014. The 51-day conflict devastated the Gaza Strip and left at least 2,251 dead on the Palestinian side, mostly civilians, and 74 among the Israelis, mostly soldiers.
Source: Xinhua and AFP
PB
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