Jeusalem: Talk of a long-term cease-fire between Israel and the Hamas rulers of Gaza was abruptly interrupted by cross-border fire late on Wednesday and early Thursday as the Israeli military traded blows with Palestinian militants, the latest in a series of recent clashes.
Hours into the exchange, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said that a pregnant woman, Inas Khammash, and her 18-month-old daughter had been killed in an airstrike that hit their home in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. An Israeli military spokeswoman could not immediately comment on the report of civilian casualties.
Palestinian militant groups fired about 70 rockets and mortar shells at southern Israel by midnight, according to the Israeli military. Most landed in open ground, but at least four slammed into the Israeli border town of Sderot, causing several injuries and property damage.
At least 11 rockets headed for developed areas were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome aerial defence system.
The Israeli Air Force carried out waves of attacks against targets across Gaza, including what the military described as a factory producing tunnel parts and a tunnel shaft. The military also distributed video of a missile strike on a vehicle that it said was carrying a squad that had just launched a rocket at Israeli territory.
Read the article by Isabel Kershner in The Sydney Morning Herald (New York Times, DPA).
[Editor: The headline of this story is a blatant example of anti-Israel media bias.
Dr David Adler, AJA President has said “The SMH headline is to be condemned as so out of context to be grossly misleading. It is consistent with the classic antisemitic characterisation it all started when the Jews fought back. It is not the first time the Fairfax media and the SMH have displayed anti-Israel bias bordering on antisemitism in its reporting”.
The Outsiders on Sky News also do a take on this story.]