Militants, children among 28 dead after Israel and Hamas exchange heavy fire
- Israel launched retaliatory strikes after Palestinian militant groups fired at least 200 rockets towards Israel
- Tensions escalated after unrest at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound that has left hundreds of Palestinians wounded
Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza exchanged heavy fire on Tuesday, killing at least 26 Palestinians and two Israelis, in an escalation sparked by violent unrest at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Nine children were among those killed in the blockaded Gaza Strip that is controlled by Hamas and 125 people there were wounded, local health authorities said.
Two Israeli women were killed by rockets in the heavily targeted coastal city of Ashkelon, just north of Gaza, said the emergency service Magen David Adom. The local Barzilai medical centre said it was treating 70 injured.
Hamas’s armed wing Qassem Brigades had vowed to turn the town “to hell” and rained down an intense volley, claiming to have fired 137 rockets towards Ashkelon and nearby Ashdod within just five minutes.
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‘Full-scale war’ feared as fighting between Israel and Hamas escalates amid air strikes
Loud booms again rocked the town on Tuesday, where a rocket had ripped a gaping hole into the side of an apartment block.