Calls for ceasefire after Gaza’s deadliest day

Israel killed a senior Palestinian militant commander in heavy air strikes on Gaza on Monday and Islamist groups renewed rocket attacks on Israeli cities despite mounting international calls for a ceasefire.

As the fiercest hostilities in the region in years entered a second week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged all sides to protect civilians, while Washington, Egypt and U.N. mediators stepped up efforts to end the fighting.

U.N. General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir said the 193-member body will meet on Thursday to discuss the situation.  

Gaza health officials put the Palestinian death toll since the hostilities flared last week at 201, including 58 children and 34 women. Ten people have been killed in Israel, including two children.

The killing of Hussam Abu Harbeed, Islamic Jihad’s armed commander for north Gaza, was likely to draw a fierce response from the militant group that is fighting alongside Hamas, the Islamist movement that governs the coastal enclave.

U.S. envoy Hady Amr, appointed by President Joe Biden last week, met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday, and Blinken said U.S. officials had been “working around the clock” to bring an end to the conflict.
Reuters, 17 May, 2021