Israel vows to increase Gaza strikes until there is "total, long-term quiet" amid barrage of Palestinian rocket fire
Gaza City — Rockets streamed out of Gaza and Israel pounded the territory with airstrikes early Wednesday as the most severe outbreak of violence since the 2014 war took on many hallmarks of that devastating 50-day conflict. As CBS News senior foreign correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reported on Wednesday, what began weeks ago as protests in Jerusalem over restrictions at a major Muslim holy site and the planned eviction of Palestinian families has morphed into a new war.
And on Wednesday, there was no end in sight. Israel's Defense Minister said the attacks on armed groups in Gaza were to be stepped up, to bring what he promised to be "total, long term quiet."
Gaza's Hamas rulers and other militant groups have fired barrages of hundreds of rockets that at times have overwhelmed Israel's missile defenses, causing air raid sirens and explosions to echo across Tel Aviv, Israel's biggest metropolitan area, and other cities.
Israeli airstrikes have leveled multistory buildings across the Gaza Strip, where 2 million Palestinians have lived under a crippling Israeli-Egyptian blockade since Hamas took power in 2007. Warning shots have allowed civilians to evacuate the buildings, but the material losses will be immense. Israel faced heavy criticism over the tactic during the 2014 war.
U.N. Middle East peace envoy Tor Wennesland tweeted, "Stop the fire immediately. We're escalating towards a full scale war. Leaders on all sides have to take the responsibility of de-escalation. The cost of war in Gaza is devastating & is being paid by ordinary people. UN is working w/ all sides to restore calm. Stop the violence now."
Just after daybreak Wednesday, Israel unleashed dozens of airstrikes in the course of a few minutes, targeting police and security installations, witnesses said. A wall of dark gray smoke rose over Gaza City.
The Health Ministry in Gaza said at least 48 people had been killed in the strikes over the last two days, including 14 children and three women, and more than 300 others wounded.
The Israeli military insists it only targets terrorists — Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders and their installations, but as Palmer reports, the material damage is immense, and for the human beings in the over-crowded enclave, there's no safe place.
Samah Haboub, a mother of four in Gaza, said she was thrown across her bedroom in a "moment of horror" by an airstrike on an apartment tower next door. She and her children, aged three to 14, ran down the stairway of their apartment block along with other residents, many of them screaming and crying.
"There is almost no safe place in Gaza," she said.
Six Israelis, including three women and a child, were killed by rocket fire Tuesday and early Wednesday, and dozens of people were wounded. The Israeli military said Palestinian militants had fired more 1,050 rockets since the conflict began, with 200 of them falling short and landing inside Gaza.
IDF combat soldier Staff Sgt. Omer Tabib of the Nahal Brigade, was killed this morning by an Anti-Tank missile fired by Hamas from Gaza into Israel. He was 21 years old.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 12, 2021
May his memory be a blessing. pic.twitter.com/M3b3KXw4sP
One of the Israelis killed was a soldier hit on Wednesday by an anti-tank missile fired on his vehicle near the Gaza border.
Palmer reported on Wednesday that it's not just an air war. There's been violence on the ground, too. Overnight in Ramallah, in the West Bank, police fired tear gas to chase away hundreds of young men who, like most Palestinians, have had enough of the Israeli occupation.
Roots of latest exchanges
The latest eruption of violence began a month ago in Jerusalem, where heavy-handed police tactics during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers ignited protests and clashes with police. A focal point was the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, a holy site sacred to Jews and Muslims.
Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since the Islamic militant group seized power in Gaza from rival Palestinian forces in 2007. The conflicts ended after regional and international powers convinced both sides to accept an informal truce.
While the violence has been widely condemned, there is no sign that either side is willing to back down. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to expand the offensive, saying "this will take time," and the unrest in Jerusalem has spread to the occupied West Bank and within Israel itself as Hamas has called for a full-scale Palestinian intifada, or uprising.
In the Israeli city of Lod, a 52-year-old man and his 16-year-old daughter were killed early Wednesday when a rocket had landed in the courtyard of their one-story home. Their car parked outside was wrecked and the interior of the house was filled by debris.
Lod also saw heavy clashes after thousands of mourners joined a funeral for an Arab man killed by a suspected Jewish gunman the previous night. The crowd fought with police, and set a synagogue and some 30 vehicles, including a police car, on fire, Israeli media reported. Paramedics said a 56-year-old man was seriously hurt after his car was pelted with stones.
"An intifada erupted in Lod, you have to bring in the army," the city's mayor, Yair Revivo, said. Authorities have declared a state of emergency and ordered a deployment of paramilitary border guards from the West Bank as reinforcements.
In neighboring Ramle, ultra-nationalist Jewish demonstrators were filmed attacking cars belonging to Arabs. In the northern port town of Acre, protesters torched a Jewish-owned restaurant and hotel. Police arrested dozens of others at Arab protests in other towns.
Israeli politics shadowing fighting
Israel is in political limbo following four inconclusive elections in less than two years.
Opponents of Netanyahu have been trying to forge a government to oust him, but they are deeply divided among themselves and will likely need the support of an Arab-backed party with Islamist roots. The current tensions might deter the party's leader, Mansour Abbas, from joining a coalition with Jewish parties, at least for the time being.
The sides have three more weeks to reach a deal. If they fail, Israel would likely begin an unprecedented fifth election campaign in just over two years.
Netanyahu appeared with one of his rivals, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, on Tuesday in a show of unity. Gantz said Israel's strikes were "only the beginning" and the military said it was activating some 5,000 reservists and sending troop reinforcements to the Gaza border.
Confrontations erupted last weekend at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, which is the third-holiest site in Islam and the holiest site in Judaism. Over four days, Israeli police fired tear gas and stun grenades at Palestinians in the compound who hurled stones and chairs at the forces. At times, police fired stun grenades into the carpeted mosque.
On Monday evening, Hamas began firing rockets from Gaza. From there on, the escalation was rapid.
In a televised address, Hamas' exiled leader, Ismail Haniyeh, said Israel bore responsibility. "It's the Israeli occupation that set Jerusalem on fire, and the flames reached Gaza," he said.
International reaction
Diplomats sought to intervene, with Qatar, Egypt and the United Nations working to deliver a cease-fire. All three serve as mediators between Israel and Hamas.
The U.N. Security Council planned to hold its second closed emergency meeting in three days Wednesday on the escalating violence, an indication of growing international concern. Council diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions have been private, said the U.N.'s most powerful body did not issue a statement because of U.S. concerns that it could escalate tensions.
The U.S. has called on both sides to rein in the violence, condemned the Palestinian rocket attacks in particular.
CBS News Radio correspondent Robert Berger, who's covered the Middle East for decades, said the Biden administration appears to be treading cautiously as it wants to avoid getting off to a bad start with Israel.
Berger noted also that as Israeli cities are being bombarded, it would be difficult for the U.S. not to back Israel's right to self-defense. That's what Israel would like to hear, unequivocally, from President Biden, but Israel realizes it will come under increasing pressure from the U.S. to show restraint, so it may be trying to hit Hamas as hard as it can before diplomatic time runs out.
An official familiar with the travel plans confirmed to CBS News' Christina Ruffini on Wednesday that Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israeli-Palestinian affairs Hady Amr had been expected to travel to Tel Aviv this week and likely still would, depending on flights being permitted to land in the country amid the ongoing rocket fire. Axios first reported on Wednesday that Amr was being despatched to Jerusalem.
The Arab League, some of whose members have grown closer to the Jewish state over the last year, said Israel's actions were "indiscriminate and irresponsible" and blamed it for "dangerous escalation" in Jerusalem.
Violence begets violence
Hamas confirmed on Wednesday that its top commander in Gaza City was killed in a strike. Israel claims it has killed dozens of the group's fighters, including a number of senior commanders. Islamic Jihad confirmed that three senior commanders were killed in a strike on their hideout in a Gaza City apartment building.
Netanyahu said Israel had attacked hundreds of targets. The fiercest attack was a set of airstrikes that brought down an entire 12-story building. The building housed important Hamas offices, as well as a gym and some start-up businesses. Israel fired a series of warning shots before demolishing the building, allowing people to flee and there were no casualties.
Israeli aircraft heavily damaged another Gaza City building early Wednesday. The nine-story structure housed residential apartments, medical companies and a dental clinic. A drone fired five warning rockets before the bombing. Israel said the building housed Hamas intelligence offices and the group's command responsible for planning attacks on Israeli targets in the occupied West Bank.
Fighter jets struck the building again after journalists and rescuers had gathered around. There was no immediate word on casualties. The high-rise stood 650 feet from the Associated Press bureau in Gaza City, and smoke and debris reached the office.
Soon after the bombing, Hamas announced that it would resume its attacks, and fired 100 rockets at the Israeli desert town of Beersheba. Hamas said the renewed barrage was in response to the strike on the building.