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Israeli TV reports DIRECT HIT on Tel Aviv building as Palestinians launch
‘hundreds’ of rockets from Gaza
11 May, 2021 18:06
on a 12-storey building in the city, towards the coastal city of Tel Aviv, on May 11, 2021. © AFP / ANAS BABA
Palestinian militants in Gaza have fired over 100 rockets at Israel following the destruction of a residential tower block. Israeli media reported that a building in the Tel Aviv suburb of Holon has been hit.
According to regional media, at least 130 rockets have been fired from Gaza on Tuesday evening, targeting Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities. Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, launched “hundreds” of rockets, the Gaza-based Shehab news agency reported.
Palestinians said the barrage is a response to the destruction of Hanadi tower, a residential complex in Gaza, by Israeli bombardment earlier in the day.
“If the enemy persists and bombs civilian towers, Tel Aviv will be on a date with a harsh missile strike that exceeds what happened in Ashkelon,” Al-Qassam spokesman Abu Ubayda said on Tuesday, according to local media.
Hamas claimed to have killed two Israelis and injured many more in rocket strikes on Ashkelon and Ashdod earlier in the day. Meanwhile, the ministry of health in Hamas-run Gaza reported that 28 people have been killed – including 10 children – and 152 were injured in Israeli bombings as of Tuesday afternoon.
Another rocket reportedly hit the suburb of Rishon Letzion, further south. All flights have been suspended at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport, and planes are being diverted to Cyprus, the Civil Aviation Authority said.
The government in Tel Aviv has confirmed that two people were killed in Ashkelon and more than 30 wounded across southern Israel, as the Iron Dome missile defense apparently struggled to cope with the sheer volume of rockets from Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that air strikes against Gaza will be increased in “both strength and frequency” due to the rocket barrage that began Monday.
Hamas and other groups in the Gaza Strip began launching rockets after Monday’s blaze outside the Al-Aqsa mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. A tree caught fire amid clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians protesting evictions from the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.
How do they manage to get and hide hundreds of rockets? I thought Israeli security was better than that.
US labels seven Lebanese nationals as specially designated global terrorists
over alleged links to Hezbollah
11 May, 2021 16:15
FILE PHOTO. Members of Lebanon's Hezbollah. © Reuters / Aziz Taher
The US Treasury Department has imposed sanctions against seven people it claims are linked to Hezbollah and its financial wing, Al-Qard al-Hassan, labelling all of the individuals as “specially designated global terrorists”.
In a statement released on the Treasury website on Tuesday, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced it has blacklisted seven people for their alleged connections to Hezbollah and Al-Qard al-Hassan (AQAH).
The sanctions target Ibrahim Ali Daher, who was described in the statement as serving as the chief of Hezbollah’s Central Finance Unit, and six others, who are accused of using personal bank accounts to cover up the Iran-backed movement’s activities.
“From the highest levels of Hezbollah’s financial apparatus to working level individuals, Hezbollah continues to abuse the Lebanese financial sector and drain Lebanon’s financial resources at an already dire time,” the US Treasury said in a statement.
Such actions demonstrate Hezbollah’s disregard for financial stability, transparency, or accountability in Lebanon.
The US has previously accused AQAH of being established to act as a “cover” for the financial activities of Hezbollah and allowing the group to present a front on the international financial system, sanctioning it in 2007.
The individuals accused have not publicly commented on the sanctions and Hezbollah has not responded to Treasury’s allegations.
Hamas’ military wing says it launched 15 rockets near
Israel’s Dimona nuclear reactor site
12 May, 2021 14:04
Israel's Iron Dome aerial defence system is activated to intercept a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip on May 12, 2021
© AFP / EMMANUEL DUNAND
The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, has said it fired 15 rockets towards the Israeli town of Dimona, near the country’s main nuclear reactor, after Israel pledged a tough response against Palestinian militants.
The group announced its latest rocket attack from Gaza towards Israel in a statement on Wednesday, adding that another 50 rockets had been fired towards the city of Ashdod.
Unverified footage posted to social media purported to show the rockets being fired towards Dimona. No injuries have been reported.
On Wednesday, rocket warning sirens sounded in Dimona, Ashdod, and other Israeli areas, including Ashkelon, Yavne, and Beersheba, according to the Times of Israel.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said “a barrage of rockets” had been fired from Gaza into southern Israel on Wednesday afternoon, having earlier reported that more than 1,050 were launched in the past 38 hours alone.
The airstrikes are the latest outbursts of violence amid a serious escalation between Israeli forces and Palestinian Hamas militants this week.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said on Wednesday that the IDF would continue its air strikes on alleged Hamas targets in Gaza until there is “complete silence.”
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, 53 people have died from the attacks in Gaza this week, including 14 children, while 320 people have been injured.
Meanwhile, six people are reported to have been killed in Israel.
I wonder if they knew which way the winds were blowing? A direct hit releasing radiation into a southeast wind could have annihilated Gaza. A west or southwest wind could have directed the radiation into diurnal winds flowing up or down the Jordan Valley. If upward, it could easily have reached Amman, Jordan.
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