• Gaza, Biden calls for ceasefire but Netanyahu insists

  • Di Maio sees Zarif: "Worried about the violence. Unacceptable rocket launch from Gaza"

  • Middle East: new raids in Gaza, rockets on Israel.

    Calls for a ceasefire

  • Blinken to Israel: clarify the reason for the attack on the media headquarters in Gaza

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May 18, 2021 Two dead and two seriously injured: this is the first toll, according to commercial television Channel 13, of a rocket and mortar attack launched from Gaza and exploded in a shed in an agricultural village near the demarcation line. On the spot there are other wounded, less serious. According to the broadcaster, a rocket hit the shed. When the first rescue teams arrived they were hit by another mortar round. The mortar attack is still ongoing.



The two killed in the Palestinian attack are foreign workers

, likely originating in Thailand, according to local media. Magen David Adom, the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross, confirmed their death. He added that there are also one seriously injured and seven injured in average conditions at the scene. In the Beer Sheva area, a rocket damaged a car in transit with a person on board, the condition of which is not yet known. A severe rocket attack is underway from Gaza aimed at a dozen locations in southern Israel.



Israel closes open crossing for aid to Gaza

Israel has decided to close the Kerem Shalom crossing in the Gaza Strip during the passage of international humanitarian aid for the Palestinians of the enclave. The decision, according to what was communicated by the authorities of the Jewish state, is linked to the bombing in the direction of the crossing, which occurred precisely at the moment in which the passage of vehicles with goods took place. Mortar shells were fired in the direction of the Kerem Shalom crossing "when trucks carrying civilian aid provided by international humanitarian organizations entered", Cogat, the Israeli body responsible for civilian operations in the Palestinian territories, said. "It was decided to block the entry of other trucks," it was explained.



In the meantime, the activity of international diplomacy continues. After

the ceasefire requested by US President Biden

, the Palestinian ambassador in Moscow Abdel Hafiz Nofal makes it known that Palestine is ready for direct talks with Israel in Moscow at any time. "Of course we agree to have talks tomorrow too because we have faith in the Russian side," he said. Last Sunday the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin declared in an urgent high-level videoconference of the UN Security Council on the Palestinian-Israeli crisis that Moscow asked for the necessary conditions to be created as soon as possible to relaunch the dialogue "on the basis of the well-known resolutions of the Security Council and the UN General Assembly and of the principle of two states - Palestine and Israel - coexisting in peace and security ".Vershinin stressed that Russia's proposal to hold a meeting in Moscow between Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas amid the escalating Palestinian-Israeli conflict remains in effect.



UN: Gaza situation increasingly dramatic

The United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs, meanwhile, describes an increasingly dramatic situation in the Gaza Strip, while the war between Israel and the Hamas rulers continues with no solution in sight. Spokesman Jens Laerke said nearly 47,000 Palestinians fled their homes during the week of heavy Israeli airstrikes, in which Hamas and other militants fired more than 3,400 rockets at Israel. Electricity throughout the Palestinian enclave is only available for six to eight hours a day. Citing the Palestinian authorities, he said 132 buildings comprising 621 housing and commercial units were destroyed in Gaza, a further 316 housing units were severely damaged and rendered uninhabitable.



Laerke welcomed Israel's decision to open Gaza's main trading post, allowing essential supplies to flow for the first time since the war broke out on May 10. The Israeli military body that coordinates civilian affairs in the Gaza Strip said the crossing was closed after an attack, several hours after it was opened to allow entry of medical equipment.



Israel to Di Maio: "Thanks for Italy's support"

"I had a cordial conversation with the Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio. I thanked him for the Italian government's support for Israel's right to defend itself and for Italy's condemnation of Hamas's terrorist acts. I reiterated that Israel will continue to act until calm is restored in the cities of the south and in central Israel. " So on Twitter the Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi. "I updated him on the measures taken by Israel to contain the events in Jerusalem - he continues - and on the attempts to prevent deterioration and escalation. The entire international community must condemn the terrorist activities of Hamas, which operates among the population civilian in Gaza and uses its citizens as human shields ".