At least 30 people were killed As fighting escalated between Israel and Hamas on Tuesday, the IDF launched airstrikes on Gaza as the militant group fired rockets at Israel.
More than two dozen Palestinians, including women and children, were reportedly killed in the airstrikes, which also led to the overthrow of a 13-story building in Gaza. Rockets fired indiscriminately from Gaza claimed at least three lives in Israel, where the projectiles traveled to Tel Aviv.
Viral video shown The Israeli Iron Dome defense system lighting up the night sky as it intercepted a barrage of rockets.
The latest violence began last week, after Israeli police violently cracked down on protesters demonstrating against the eviction of Palestinians from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem to make way for Israeli settlers.
Amnesty International condemned what he described as the brutal crackdown on protesters by Israeli security forces.
Israeli security officials also stormed a mosque during the holy month of Ramadan, leaving hundreds injured. Hamas activists then fired at Israel in response.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentionned Hamas “has paid and will pay a very high price for its aggression,” but the United States is calling for calm and de-escalation.
On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who previously convicted evictions in East Jerusalem, said he was “gravely concerned” by the “spiraling escalation” of violence.
“The Israeli security forces must exercise the utmost restraint and calibrate their use of force,” spokesman for the secretary general mentionned, before adding: “The indiscriminate launching of rockets and mortars at Israeli population centers is unacceptable.”