52,000 people displaced in Israel-Palestine conflict

Reuters | Gaza/Jerusalem

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Israel bombarded Gaza with airstrikes and Palestinian fighters resumed cross-border rocket fire yesterday after a brief overnight lull during which the UN sent a small fuel convoy into the enclave, where it says 52,000 people are now displaced.

Israeli leaders said they were pressing on with an offensive to destroy the capabilities of the Hamas and other armed factions, amid calls by the United States and other world powers for an end to the conflict.

Two Thai workers were killed and seven people were wounded in a rocket strike on an Israeli farm just over the Gaza border, police said. Gaza’s ruling Hamas group claimed responsibility.

Rockets were also launched at the cities of Ashdod and Beersheba, further to the north. Gaza residents said Israel was keeping up intense air strikes. Witnesses said an Israeli tank shell hit a paint factory in the southern Gaza Strip, setting it on fire.

“The fighting will not cease until we bring total and long-term quiet,” Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said in a video statement, blaming Hamas for the worst escalation in Israeli-Palestinian fighting in years.