Friday, #Israel hits #Gaza killing 10 including a Jihad commander, 5-year-old girl, father, wounding 55 in a series of missile attacks.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said his country has “zero tolerance” for attacks from Gaza but “no interest” in a broader battle. Earlier on Friday, the Israeli army said it was attacking Gaza, adding “a special situation has been declared on the Israeli home front”.
On Friday, just before the bomb struck, people were having their Friday lunch, children were playing happily around and others were going marketing. Civilians were walking all around the place when there was a massive explosion hit the tower. Shocked, the people started running wildly in all directions, strewn with blood, in a state of panic. No one expected this and what was more terrifying was the bomb was struck there was panic in the area, and people running. People were bewildered, not understanding what has happened.
Israel had unannouncedly attacked the besieged Gaza Strip with warplanes on Friday, killing at least 10 people including a commander of the Islamic Jihad group and a young girl. Taysir al-Jabari, a commander of the al-Quds Brigades, the military arm of the Islamic Jihad, died in an air raid on an apartment in the Palestine Tower in the centre of Gaza City, the group said.
Rescuers and firefighters rushed to the area immediately and put out the blazing fires and set out to help the Palestinians following the Israeli air strike on Gaza City, on August 5, 2022. – The Israeli military said today it launched air strikes on Gaza, which were witnessed by Palestinians in central Gaza City.
The five-year-old girl, Alaa Qaddoum, was killed in a missile attack along with her father while they rode a motorcycle to go shopping for groceries.
“Her mother Rasha is in great shock. She lost her daughter and her husband in a blink of an eye and left behind three children. We are all shocked. What is the fault of an innocent five-year-old girl to be killed in this way?” family member Mohammad Abu Jabal told Al Jazeera.
Apparently, the father was killed and someone else was holding the child
Father of a 5-year-old Palestinian girl holds her body in the al-Shifa hospital after she was killed by an Israeli airstrike on Gaza short ago.
Dozens others have been injured and killed.#GazaUnderAttack pic.twitter.com/yFC8QsBw5b
— Maha Hussaini (@MahaGaza) August 5, 2022
Smoke poured out of the seventh floor of the building in Gaza City. Civil defence teams rushed to the scene to evacuate people and put out a fire caused by the attack.
Children living in terror and reacting to the bombing:
Gaza children now#GazaUnderAttack pic.twitter.com/H7WmyhyL3F
— Aya Isleem 🇵🇸 #Gaza (@AyaIsleemEn) August 5, 2022
Picture of a five-year-old girl killed today in the Israeli aggression on Gaza.#GazaUnderAttack pic.twitter.com/5tBdO1cDYZ
— Prof Shaikh Sadeque (@TSP_President) August 6, 2022
There is rage and fury over the killing of the 5-year-old Palestinian girl murdered by as they say, “apartheid Israel’s bombing of Gaza had a name: Alaa Qaddoum. Those responsible for the crime have a name, too. We demand the ICC investigate Israeli apartheid. 10 Palestinians were murdered, 55 injured by Israeli bombs.”
#GazaUnderAttack
The 5-year-old Palestinian girl murdered by apartheid Israel's bombing of Gaza had a name: Alaa Qaddoum. Those responsible for the crime have a name, too. We demand the ICC investigate Israeli apartheid. 10 Palestinians were murdered, 55 injured by Israeli bombs.#GazaUnderAttack pic.twitter.com/T3oSEMH2k5
— BDS movement (@BDSmovement) August 5, 2022
It was reported a 5-year-old child is among 4 Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation airstrikes in the latest Israeli attack on Gaza strip #GazaUnderAttack pic.twitter.com/FdspSdMPds
— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) August 5, 2022
Multiple blasts could be heard and seen throughout Gaza. Israeli reconnaissance drones could be heard approaching over the besieged enclave.
Attacks also struck the southern areas of Khan Younis and Rafah, as well as the al-Shuja’iya neighbourhood.
In the first response to the attack, rocket fire from Gaza toward Israel could be seen as Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system lit up the night’s sky with explosions.
In a statement, the Islamic Jihad said, “The enemy has begun a war targeting our people, and we all have the duty to defend ourselves and our people, and not allow the enemy to get away with its actions which are aimed at undermining the resistance and national steadfastness.”
Ghazi Hamad, a senior official for Hamas – the group that governs the Strip – said the latest attack is “a brutal crime, a massacre done by the Israeli occupation against our people”.
Hamad told Al Jazeera there is “no justification” for the attacks, adding that the Palestinian factions have the right to defend themselves and “protect” their people.
According to him, factions in Gaza have maintained “good coordination” and are exploring the “best option for the Palestinian people”.
“I think Israel is not interested in any mediation … there is no place for mediation, no place for peaceful talks,” Hamad said. “Our people are waiting for the Palestinian resistance to take the decision and retaliate.”
An Israeli military spokesman said “we are assuming about 15 killed in action” in Gaza, referring to Palestinian group fighters.
“We haven’t finished yet,” spokesman Richard Hecht told reporters, adding Israel expected retaliatory rocket fire from Palestinian factions in Gaza.
Israeli also announced that 25,000 reserve troops were being activated.
Israel closed roads around Gaza earlier this week and sent reinforcements to the border as it braced for a response after the arrest of a senior member of the Islamic Jihad group in the occupied West Bank on Monday.
Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, said in a statement it would respond to Friday’s “escalation”.
“The Israeli enemy is the one who started the escalation against the resistance in Gaza, and a new crime was committed, and it bears the full responsibility,” said Barhoum.
“The resistance will defend our people in the Gaza Strip with everything it has and will continue to respond.”
Israel Gaza PIJ
An injured Palestinian child is carried to a hospital following the Israeli air raid on Gaza City [Anas Baba/AFP]
‘External strength’
Ahmed Mudalal, an Islamic Jihad official in Gaza, said the group had made demands on Israel through Egyptian mediators, including the release of detained leader al-Saadi and another prisoner, a halt to West Bank raids, and the lifting of the Gaza blockade. He said they have not yet received a response.
Israel and Hamas, which govern Gaza, have fought four wars and engaged in several smaller skirmishes during the past 15 years.
Washington defended Israel’s deadly air raids on Friday.
“The United States fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorist groups that have taken the lives of innocent civilians in Israel,” a White House National Security Council official told Al Jazeera. “We are urging all sides to avoid further escalation.”
Israeli defence minister Benny Gantz visited communities near Gaza on Friday, saying authorities were preparing “actions that will remove the threat from this region”, without elaborating.
“We will operate with internal resilience and external strength in order to restore routine life in Israel’s south,” he said. “We do not seek conflict, yet we will not hesitate to defend our citizens, if required.”
Last May Israel Attacked Killing 248, including 66 children and injured 1,900
Last May, similar tensions saw Israeli forces bombarded Gaza killing at least 248 people, including 66 children and injuring 1,900.
Last year, the world watched silently while Israel strikes killing 153 people, including 42 children. The violence of Israel is condemnable, hitting at civilians and children too, in the name of dealing with “terrorism.” The world today conveniently uses the word “terrorism” to its political advantage and tyrannizes “weaker” nations. On the third front, there are a group of nations playing “diplomats” for political gain, so they keep silent, watching even “mass murders” with hushed interest. The United Nations has lost the purpose for which it was created, and lost its significance because it became a pawn in the hands of powerful nations. Perhaps the United Nations should be dissolved in its political front and just be a body to help the world during global calamities.