More Israeli raids on Gaza as bombing enters second week

The Israeli military launched another series of air raids on the Gaza Strip early on Monday, hours after Israel’s caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacks on the Palestinian enclave would rage on.

Explosions rocked Gaza City from north to south in a bombardment that was heavier, wider and lasted longer than the air raids that killed at least 42 Palestinians and wounded dozens more on Sunday.

One Palestinian was reported injured.

At least 192 people, including 58 children and 34 women, have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the latest violence began a week ago.

Earlier, Hamas, the group that governs the Gaza Strip, fired rockets towards the Israeli cities of Ashkelon and Beersheba. Israel has reported 10 dead, including two children.

The Gaza Electricity Distribution Company says there were power cuts in “large areas” of Gaza City after Israeli attacks damaged a line feeding electricity from the only power plant to southern areas of the city.

In a Facebook post, the company said its crews were trying to repair the line, adding that it had been repaired more than once in the week since the bombardment began.

Al Jazeera’s Safwat al-Kahlout, reporting from Gaza City, says one Palestinian was treated for light injuries at al-Shifa hospital.

There were no other reports of injuries, and the Associated Press news agency said there was little information on the extent of damage inflicted on the Gaza Strip early on Monday.

Al Jazeera’s Safwat al-Kahlout, reporting from Gaza, says the Israeli military targeted “empty fields, empty and evacuated military bases and empty training camps linked to Palestinian fighting groups” in and around Gaza City.

Hamas, meanwhile, fired short-range rockets at southern Israel, instead of the longer-range weapons launched a day earlier. The Israeli Iron Dome air defence system intercepted those rockets, said al-Kahlout.

Israel’s latest air bombardment of the Gaza Strip was “heavier, on a wider area and lasting longer” than the raids 24 hours earlier that killed at least 42 Palestinians.

Fares Akram, AP’s correspondent in Gaza City, said explosions “rocked the city” from north to south for 10 minutes.

Al Jazeera’s Safwat al-Kahlout, reporting from Gaza, said there has barely been “one hour of peace” and that Israeli drones were “hovering overhead, controlling the skies”.

Source: Al Jazeera