A TOTAL of 43 people have now been killed after airstrikes hit Gaza and rockets were fired into Israel in the worst violence since 2014.
Hamas this morning said it fired 130 rockets at Tel Aviv after an Israeli air strike destroyed a tower block in Gaza.
Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas that it "will pay a heavy price for their belligerence" as the country steps up its attacks on the Gaza Strip.
It follows Israel threatening Hamas with days of air strikes after a rocket attack on Jerusalem on Monday. Hamas launched another offensive last night after a 13-storey residential block in the Gaza Strip collapsed yesterday following an Israeli air strike.
The building housed an office used by the political leadership of Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas.
The escalation in violence followed a decision by Israeli cops to storm a compound at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
Violence erupted for a third night in a row with many were struck by rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas ahead of a planned Jewish nationalist march.
Read our Israel-Gaza live blog below for all the latest news and updates…
- Caroline Mortimer
CONTINUED: WHAT IS ZION?
In the Hebrew Bible, the word Zion refers to Jerusalem, and the movement is identified with the city and the land that surrounds it.
The modern idea of a return to “Zion” — Jerusalem or the Holy Land — has been around since the 1800s.
The birth of Zionism in Europe in the late 19th century led to a concentrated effort by Jews to return to their ancient homeland after a 2,000-year exile, explains The Conversation.
Back then, European Jews facing anti-Semitism began to contemplate a Jewish nation-state in the land of their biblical forefathers.
- Caroline Mortimer
EXPLAINED: WHAT IS ZIONISM?
Zionism is a "movement to create a Jewish state in the Middle East, roughly corresponding to the historical land of Israel, and thus support for the modern state of Israel.
"Anti-Zionism opposes that," says BBC News.
Zionism is Israel’s national ideology, explains Vox.
It adds: "Zionists believe Judaism is a nationality as well as a religion, and that Jews deserve their own state in their ancestral homeland, Israel, in the same way the French people deserve France or the Chinese people should have China.
"It’s what brought Jews back to Israel in the first place, and also at the heart of what concerns Arabs and Palestinians about the Israeli state."
The Zionist movement works for the return of the Jewish people to Israel and the maintenance of Jewish sovereignty there.
- Joseph Gamp
GAZA DEATH TOLL RISES TO 43
A total of 43 people have now been killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, the enclave’s health authority has said.
Officials say thirteen of the dead are children.
Nearly 300 people in the Strip have been injured in the worst fighting since the 2014 war.
- Caroline Mortimer
EUROPEAN COUNCIL PRESIDENT SPEAKS TO ISRAELI PRESIDENT
- Joseph Gamp
LIB DEM SPOKESWOMAN READS OUT NAMES OF CHILDREN KILLED IN ISRAEL-GAZA CONFLICT IN LAST WEEK
Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokeswoman Layla Moran read out the names of children killed in the last week, telling the Commons: "My heart breaks for them and my heart bleeds for Palestine, for Jerusalem – the city of my family – for the worshippers attacked by extremists at the Al-Aqsa mosque on the holiest night of Ramadan, and for all innocent civilians – Israeli and Palestinian.
"We cannot allow this to escalate any further. The Israeli government, pursuing evictions in Sheikh Jarrar that would be illegal under international humanitarian law and the subsequent overly aggressive reaction from the Israeli authorities that injured hundreds, has ignited a tinder box.
"Hamas then retaliated and those strikes must be condemned too."
Ms Moran called for new peace talks, adding: "If this isn't the time to recognise the state of Palestine, then when is?"
- Joseph Gamp
FOREIGN OFFICE MINISTER JAMES CLEVERLY CONDEMNS FIRING OF ROCKETS AT ISRAEL
Foreign Office minister James Cleverly also told MPs: "The UK unequivocally condemns the firing of rockets at Jerusalem and other locations in Israel. We strongly condemn these acts of terrorism from Hamas and other terrorist groups, who must permanently end their incitement and rocket fire against Israel – there is no justification for any targeting of civilians."
Mr Cleverly said Israel has a "legitimate right to self-defence" and to defend its citizens from attack, adding: "In doing so it is vital that all actions are proportionate, in line with international humanitarian law and make every effort to avoid civilian casualties.
"Violence against peaceful worshippers of any faith is unacceptable. The UK has been clear that the attacks on worshippers must stop. The status quo in Jerusalem is important at all times, but especially so during religious festivals such as Ramadan. Our priority now must be an immediate de-escalation on all sides and an end to civilian deaths."
Mr Cleverly said the threat of evictions of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers has been "allayed for now", adding: "We urge Israel to cease such action, which in most cases are contrary to international humanitarian law."
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab spoke to the Israeli foreign minister on Tuesday and will speak to the Palestinian prime minister on Wednesday, MPs heard.
- Joseph Gamp
PICTURED: PALESTINIANS FLEE TO SAFE LOCATIONS AMID ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES IN GAZA
Palestinians leave their neighbourhood to head to a safer locationCredit: Getty Israeli warplanes continue air strikes on Gaza Strip, in Gaza City, GazaCredit: Getty The death toll in Gaza has risen to 43Credit: Getty - Caroline Mortimer
- Caroline Mortimer
STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARED AS SYNAGOGUES ARE TORCHED
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a state of emergency in Lod, near Tel Aviv, after reports that members of Israel's 21% Arab minority had set fire to synagogues and that Jews had stoned cars driven by Arab residents.
"We have lost control of the city and the streets," Lod Mayor Yair Revivo told Channel 12 News after several nights of violent confrontations in which one Arab man has been killed and many hurt.
Police arrested dozens of people overnight in Lod and in majority-Arab towns in central and northern Israel, including Umm al-Fahm along the West Bank border and Jisr al-Zarqa on the Mediterranean coast.
In Lod, men carried Torah scrolls through the blackened and debris-strewn yard of the torched synagogue. In the coastal city of Acre, Uri Buri, a Jewish-owned fish restaurant, was set fire to and some Arab residents said they were scared to leave home
- Joseph Gamp
WATCH: ISRAEL'S IRON DOME DEFENCE SYSTEM INTERCEPTS SCORES OF HAMAS ROCKETS IN SKIES ABOVE TEL AVIV FIRED FROM GAZA
Israel’s Iron Dome defence system intercepts scores of Hamas rockets in skies above Tel Aviv fired from Gaza
- Joseph Gamp
EXPLAINED: WHAT ARE TAMIR MISSILES?
Tamir is a Hebrew acronym for Til Meyaret which means interceptor missile.
Each one is fitted with sensors and steering fins to ensure they collide with their intended target and is fired from a launcher remotely by a wireless connection.
The missiles have a range of 43 miles, are 10 feet in length and cost $50,000 to make.
Each battery containing the missiles can protect around 150 sq km.
- Caroline Mortimer
UN ENVOY WARNS WE ARE "HEADING TOWARDS A FULL-SCALE WAR"
UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland warned that "we're escalating towards a full-scale war".
"Leaders on all sides have to take the responsibility of de-escalation," he said.
- Joseph Gamp
GAZA DEATH TOLL RISES TO 43
A total of 43 people have now been killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, the enclave’s health authority has said.
Officials say thirteen of the dead are children.
Nearly 300 people in the Strip have been injured in the worst fighting since the 2014 war.
- Caroline Mortimer
UN SECRETARY-GENERAL 'SADDENED' BY RENEWED CONFLICT
A spokesman for Antonio Guterres said the secretary-general was saddened by "the increasingly large numbers of casualties, including children, from Israeli air strikes in Gaza and of Israeli fatalities from rockets launched from Gaza.
"Israeli security forces must exercise maximum restraint and calibrate their use of force. The indiscriminate launching of rockets and mortars towards Israeli population centres is unacceptable," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
- Joseph Gamp
GERMANY: JEWISH COMMUNITY CALLS FOR PROTECTION AMID ISRAEL-PALESTINIAN CLASHES
Germany's Jewish community on Wednesday called for protection to be ramped up after Israeli flags were burnt in front of synagogues amid escalating Israeli-Palestinian violence.
Police arrested 16 people in two separate incidents at synagogues in the cities of Bonn and Muenster, where Israeli flags were set on fire late Tuesday.
Josef Schuster, president of Germany's Central Council of Jews, blamed Hamas for the escalating conflict in Israel and said tensions were spilling over.
"Israel and Jews as a whole are subjected to hatred and incitement, particularly on social media. The threat to the Jewish community is growing," he said.
Pointing to the flag-burning incidents, he said "the protection of Jewish institutions must be raised. We expect from the people in Germany solidarity with Israel and the Jewish community," added Schuster.
- Joseph Gamp
ISRAEL-GAZA VIOLENCE: THE LATEST
- The exchanges between the two sides represent “some of the most intense fighting between Israel and Hamas since their 2014 war,”
- On Monday, Israeli police fired stun grenades in the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, one of Islam's holiest sites, and Palestinian demonstrators threw stones at police
- On Tuesday, Palestinian militants launched rockets into Israel in response to the incident in Jerusalem, CNN reports.
- Israeli PM Netanyahu promised to “further increase force"
EXPLAINED: HOW SUCCESSFUL IS THE IRON DOME AT STOPPING ATTACKS?
In the US, Lt. Gen. Henry A. Obering (ret.) writes in Defence News: “Iron Dome has stopped over 2,000 rockets fired at Israeli population centres with a remarkable success rate, an achievement that also shifted US thinking about homeland missile defence.
“Iron Dome is the most proven and affordable option against very short-range fire.”
He’s hailed it as a ‘gamechanger’.
On the battlefield during Operation Pillar of Defence in November 2012, and when used in Operation Protective Edge in 2014, the system had 84 per cent and 91 per cent rates of success, respectively.
WATCH: ISRAELI AIR STRIKE RAZES GAZA TOWER BLOCK HOUSING HAMAS OFFICE IN RESPONSE TO TERROR GROUP'S ROCKET ATTACKS
TURKEY AND RUSSIA DISCUSS CONFLICT OVER PHONE
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russia's Vladimir Putin discussed in a phone call tensions in Gaza and Jerusalem, Turkey's presidency said on Wednesday.
Erdogan told Putin the international community needed to "teach a deterrent lesson" to Israel, adding that Ankara was working to mobilise this reaction, according to a statement from his office.
Erdogan also called for work to be done on sending international peacekeepers to the region to help safeguard Palestinians, a proposal Turkey has made since 2018.
PICTURED: PALESTINIANS INSPECT RUBBLE OF RAZED GAZA CITY TOWER BLOCK
PAKISTANI PM CALLS FOR MUSLIM SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINIANS
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has condemned Israel's actions and called for Muslim nations to support the Palestinians
He tweeted “We stand with Gaza and Palestine.”
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi meanwhile urged Muslim nations to unite over Israel's strikes on Palestinian civilian areas.
Protesters are expected to hold a small anti-Israel rally later today in the southern city of Karachi.
- Joseph Gamp
ISRAELI SOLDIER KILLED BY ANTI-TANK FIRE
An anti-tank missile was fired from the Gaza Strip toward Israeli territory on Wednesday morning, according to the Israel Defence Force.
Haaretz reported that one soldier was killed after the projectile struck a military vehicle. Two others were reportedly injured.
- Joseph Gamp
GAZA DEATH TOLL RISES TO 43
A total of 43 people have now been killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, the enclave’s health authority has said.
Officials say thirteen of the dead are children.
Nearly 300 people in the Strip have been injured in the worst fighting since the 2014 war.
- Joseph Gamp
UN SECURITY COUNCIL TO HOLD EMERGENCY MEETING
The UN Security Council was planning to hold its second closed emergency meeting in three days on Wednesday to address the escalating violence between the Israelis and Palestinians.
Council diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions have been private, said the UN's most powerful body had not already issued a statement because of US concerns that it could make things worse.
It comes as diplomats from Qatar and Egypt also work to deliver a ceasefire.
- Caroline Mortimer
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT PROSECUTOR 'CONCERNED' ABOUT ESCALATING CONFLICT
ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has released a statement on Twitter –
The Israeli Defence Force is already under investigation by the ICC for its destruction of apartment towers during the 2014 conflict.
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