Israel launches air strikes in Gaza Strip after Hamas rocket barrage, 20 dead

Twenty people including nine children were killed amidst fresh airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Heath Ministry confirmed on May 10. Earlier on Monday, Hamas, an extremist group controlling the Gaza Strip, fired a barrage of rockets into the Israeli territory. Later, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) confirmed bombing Hamas targets in retaliation.  

According to Associated Press, at least 13 of the 20 deaths in Gaza were attributed to the airstrikes. Seven of the deaths were members of a single-family, including three children, who died in a mysterious explosion in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun. It wasn’t clear if the blast was caused by an airstrike or a failed rocket.

The recent clash is triggered by Palestinians’ growing fear of “forced eviction” from the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in east Jerusalem. The conflict turned bloody last Friday after Israeli Law enforcers and Palestinians clashed at the Al Aqsa Mosque complex. The skirmish led to more than 200 Palestinian and over 17 Israeli fatalities.

In a separate incident on Saturday, the Israeli police stopped a bus carrying devotees to the mosque. Discreet clashes sprung up in Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate wherein stone-pelting Palestinian protesters engaged in a scuffle with Israeli officers. The skirmishes continued for a third day on Sunday, when Hamas fired at least 150 rockets into the Israeli territory. By Monday, the Israeli military had retaliated, shelling and annihilating a Hamas tunnel, several rocket launchers and killing at least eight militants. On Monday, the echoes of stun grenades and tear gasses were heard across Jerusalem.  

(Image credit: AP)

Why is Jerusalem a flashpoint?

The city of Jerusalem has been the bone of contestation between the Arabs and the Jews for a century now. The old city of Jerusalem houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest place for Islam. Unfortunately, the same land is also revered as the holiest in Judaism as Temple Mount. Frequent flashpoints at the site have triggered not only a war of nerves but also ammunitions between Palestinians and Israelis.

As of now, more than 700 Palestinians have been injured in Jerusalem and across the West Bank in what is slowly turning into one of the bloodiest crisis in the region.

(With inputs from AP)