UN calls for restraint as tit-for-tat exchanges escalate
ADVERTISEMENTUnited Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday urged all sides to exercise maximum restraint after Palestinians in Gaza fired scores of rockets and mortar bombs into southern Israel and
Israel launched retaliatory air strikes, a U.N. spokesman said.
Israeli missiles landed a direct hit on the studios of Hamas’s television station in the Gaza Strip on Monday. Al-Aqsa TV was devastated but the Israeli army had given advanced warning of the strike and there were no reports of casualties.
Earlier Palestinians launched a mortar attack from Gaza. terrifying residents in the Israeli port of
Ashkelon. It was the biggest Palestinian offensive on Israel for four years.
One anti-tank missile struck a bus that then exploded in flames, critically injuring one passenger. The Palestinians were responding to Sunday’s Israeli commando raid which killed a Hamas commander and six other militants. The victims were buried on Monday.
In an apparent attempt to diffuse tensions, Israel said the killings had not been targeted assassinations.