Israeli jets struck three sites in Gaza yesterday after a rocket was launched at Israel, the military said, disrupting a relative lull in the war-torn territory at the start of a major Muslim holiday.
The strikes followed an almost 12-hour pause in fighting and came as international efforts intensified to end the three-week war between Israel and Hamas.
The UN called for an “immediate” ceasefire in the conflict that has already killed more than 1,030 Palestinians, 43 Israeli soldiers and three civilians on the Israeli side.
Photo: AFP
Israel’s military said it struck two rocket launchers and a rocket manufacturing facility in central and northern Gaza after a rocket hit southern Israel earlier in the day. The rocket caused no damage or injuries.
At least two more Palestinians were killed yesterday.
A four-year-old boy died when tank shells hit his family’s house in Jabaliya, in the northern Gaza Strip, Gaza health officials said.
Another person was killed by tank shelling in a separate incident, also in Jabaliya.
Earlier, the Israeli military said it had not carried out any attacks in Gaza since 9:30pm on Sunday, but that troops on the ground were pressing on with efforts to destroy the cross-border tunnels constructed by Hamas for attacks inside Israel.
Also, the Israeli military opened artillery fire on Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza in response to the rocket fired at Ashkelon, the office of Israel’s military spokesman said.
“Quiet will be met with quiet,” the office statement said.
The military said eight rockets had been fired at Israel since midnight.
As Muslims began celebrating the Eid al-Fitr holiday yesterday that marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, there was fear and mourning instead of holiday cheer in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian families huddled inside their homes, fearing more airstrikes, while those who came to a cemetery in Gaza City’s Sheik Radwan neighborhood to pay traditional respects at their ancestors’ graves gathered around a large crater from an airstrike a week ago that had broken up several graves.
In New York, an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council called for “an immediate and unconditional humanitarian ceasefire.”
And while it was the council’s strongest statement yet on the Gaza war, it was not a resolution and therefore not binding.
Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour did not hide his disappointment.
He said the council should have adopted a strong and legally binding resolution a long time ago demanding an immediate halt to Israel’s “aggression,” providing the Palestinian people with protection and lifting the siege in the Gaza Strip so goods and people can move freely.
“You cannot keep 1.8 million Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip in this huge prison,” Mansour told reporters. “That is a recipe for disaster. It is inhumane, and it has to be stopped and it has to be lifted.”
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
‘DANGEROUS GAME’: Legislative Yuan budget cuts have already become a point of discussion for Democrats and Republicans in Washington, Elbridge Colby said Taiwan’s fall to China “would be a disaster for American interests” and Taipei must raise defense spending to deter Beijing, US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead Pentagon policy, Elbridge Colby, said on Tuesday during his US Senate confirmation hearing. The nominee for US undersecretary of defense for policy told the Armed Services Committee that Washington needs to motivate Taiwan to avoid a conflict with China and that he is “profoundly disturbed” about its perceived reluctance to raise defense spending closer to 10 percent of GDP. Colby, a China hawk who also served in the Pentagon in Trump’s first team,
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
RSS