Israeli jets launched a series of strikes against targets around Gaza on Tuesday after Palestinian fighters fired dozens of mortar shells at southern Israel in what was the largest barrage since the 2014 war between Hamas and the Israeli military.
The tit-for-tat threatens an escalation that could lead to a new outbreak of conflict in Gaza, what would be the fourth in less than a decade, after Israeli forces killed 116 Palestinians and wounded hundreds more across weekly rounds of protests from March 30 onwards.
The Israeli military struck over 30 targets in response to the 28 mortars that set off sirens in southern Israel and forced regional officials to order residents to remain near air raid shelters.
_____________
Read more
Israeli navy seizes Palestinian protest boats
Israeli strikes hit Gaza Strip after mortar fire, Hamas says
_____________
Palestinians in Gaza then launched another barrage of rockets into southern Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas, Gaza’s rulers, and smaller movement Islamic Jihad of responsibility for the strikes and vowed to respond with force. Islamic Jihad had said it would avenge the death of three of its members a day earlier in Israeli strikes.
Only several of the projectiles fired from Gaza struck Israeli territory, with the majority shot down by the Iron Dome anti-missile system, the military said. One exploded in the yard of a kindergarten, damaging its walls, about an hour before it was scheduled to open for the day.
There were no immediate reports of casualties from either side in the Israeli strikes and Gazan salvoes in the morning and afternoon.
A Hamas spokesman said the mortar attacks were a “natural response to Israeli crimes”. Israel maintains a land, air and sea blockade on the coastal enclave that holds more than two million people, citing security concerns. The UN has described the territory as “unliveable” more than a decade into a crippling siege. Egypt also restricts access in and out of the enclave.
Nickolay Mladenov, the UN's special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said he was deeply concerned by "the indiscriminate firing of rockets by Palestinian militants from Gaza towards communities in southern Israel".
Calling for restraint by all parties, he said at least one of the mortar bombs "hit in the immediate vicinity of a kindergarten and could have killed or injured children".
Gazan anger against the Israeli siege led to protests by Palestinians near the shared border fence. Those rallies took place against the backdrop of crippling economic conditions in Gaza and the US embassy move to Jerusalem on May 14.
On Tuesday, another protest emerged. Organisers of the border rallies launched a boat adorned with Palestinian flags from the Gazan coast in a bid to break Israel’s naval blockade.
Israel maintains a red line of six nautical miles at which it begins shooting at vessels deemed to be in breach of the enclave in either direction. A local journalist confirmed that the Israeli navy surrounded the boat, escorting it to the southern Israeli port city of Ashkelon.
It came on the anniversary of the Mavi Marmara, the ship on which Israeli commandos killed ten Turkish activists in international waters for trying to breach the blockade.
Relations between the Israelis and Palestinians have fallen to arguably their lowest level since the outbreak of war in 2014 that left more than 2,200 Palestinians dead. US-sponsored peace talks stalled before that conflict and were never revived. Israel maintains that talks should be bilateral, while the Palestinians have sought to take their cause to the international arena.
Israel has continued to build settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the territories that the Palestinians seek for any future state. They withdrew settlers from Gaza in 2005.
The majority of the international community deems Israel’s settlement enterprise to be illegal in nature and a violation of the Geneva Conventions that say a state must not transfer its own population into territory it has occupied.
More coverage from the Future Forum
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (UAE kick-off times)
Cologne v Hoffenheim (11.30pm)
Saturday
Hertha Berlin v RB Leipzig (6.30pm)
Schalke v Fortuna Dusseldof (6.30pm)
Mainz v Union Berlin (6.30pm)
Paderborn v Augsburg (6.30pm)
Bayern Munich v Borussia Dortmund (9.30pm)
Sunday
Borussia Monchengladbach v Werder Bremen (4.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Bayer Leverkusen (6.30pm)
SC Freiburg v Eintracht Frankfurt (9on)
more from Janine di Giovanni
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The specs: 2018 BMW R nineT Scrambler
Price, base / as tested Dh57,000
Engine 1,170cc air/oil-cooled flat twin four-stroke engine
Transmission Six-speed gearbox
Power 110hp) @ 7,750rpm
Torque 116Nm @ 6,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 5.3L / 100km
ADCC AFC Women’s Champions League Group A fixtures
October 3: v Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC
October 6: v Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC
October 9: v Sabah FA
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Watch live
The National will broadcast live from the IMF on Friday October 13 at 7pm UAE time (3pm GMT) as our Editor-in-Chief Mina Al-Oraibi moderates a panel on how technology can help growth in MENA.
You can find out more here
UJDA CHAMAN
Produced: Panorama Studios International
Directed: Abhishek Pathak
Cast: Sunny Singh, Maanvi Gagroo, Grusha Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla
Rating: 3.5 /5 stars
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%201.8-litre%204-cyl%20turbo%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E190hp%20at%205%2C200rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20320Nm%20from%201%2C800-5%2C000rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeven-speed%20dual-clutch%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%206.7L%2F100km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20From%20Dh111%2C195%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENow%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
More coverage from the Future Forum
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
If you go
The flights
Etihad flies direct from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco from Dh5,760 return including taxes.
The car
Etihad Guest members get a 10 per cent worldwide discount when booking with Hertz, as well as earning miles on their rentals. A week's car hire costs from Dh1,500 including taxes.
The hotels
Along the route, Motel 6 (www.motel6.com) offers good value and comfort, with rooms from $55 (Dh202) per night including taxes. In Portland, the Jupiter Hotel (https://jupiterhotel.com/) has rooms from $165 (Dh606) per night including taxes. The Society Hotel https://thesocietyhotel.com/ has rooms from $130 (Dh478) per night including taxes.
More info
To keep up with constant developments in Portland, visit www.travelportland.com. Good guidebooks include the Lonely Planet guides to Northern California and Washington, Oregon & the Pacific Northwest.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5