Ramzi Mahmoud
12 May 2023•Update: 12 May 2023
GAZA CITY, Palestine
Israel’s fresh airstrikes on Friday killed two more Palestinians in the blockaded Gaza Strip bringing the total death toll from airstrikes to 33.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, Israeli air strike which hit a residence in al-Nasr neighborhood of Gaza, killed two Palestinians and injured five.
As Israeli forces continued to strike the Gaza Strip for the fourth day in a row on Friday, the death toll rose to 33 and 98 others have been injured in the last four days of Israeli forces air attacks.
Meanwhile, Azize al-Kahalut, spokesperson of the Palestine’s Social Development Ministry in Gaza, said at a press conference that a total of 94 families have been harmed due to Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip since Tuesday.
Kahalut pointed out that the airstrikes carried out by Israel have exacerbated the suffering in Gaza, which has been under siege for many years, calling on international human rights organizations to take action to protect the Palestinian people.
Earlier in the day, Israeli warplanes bombed agricultural lands and sites belonging to the Palestinian factions in the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, according to an Anadolu reporter.
The planes targeted agricultural lands in the north of the Strip and east of Gaza City, eyewitnesses told Anadolu.
The Palestinian armed factions, in return, for the first time since the outbreak of the current fighting, fired a missile toward the Jerusalem area.
“The bombing of Jerusalem is a message. Everyone should understand its purpose,” the Islamic Jihad Movement said in a statement.
“What is happening in Jerusalem is not isolated from the events in Gaza,” the movement added.
“Sirens are sounding in the area surrounding Jerusalem,” the Israeli army said in a statement.
“This is the first time since the start of the Israeli operation in Gaza that warning sirens have been sounded in the Jerusalem area,” the official Israeli Broadcasting Authority reported.
The sirens were sounded in the town of Beit Shemesh on the outskirts of West Jerusalem, according to the same source.
Palestinian rockets were fired at the Gush Etzion settlement, south of Jerusalem, according to the daily Haaretz.
Regional and international powers have urged an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Palestine, but have been unsuccessful thus far.
The Israeli army has said the airstrikes are part of its Operation Shield and Arrow, an offensive launched after rockets were fired from Gaza following the death of a Palestinian inmate who was on a hunger strike in an Israeli prison.
According to Palestinian figures, more than 160 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the start of this year. At least 20 Israelis have also been killed in separate attacks during the same period.
