Middle East, flurry of attacks from Gaza: two dead in southern Israel.
UN: dramatic situation
Gaza, Biden calls for ceasefire but Netanyahu insists
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May 19, 2021 Another night of war between the Israeli army and Palestinian Islamist movements in the Gaza Strip, while the work of the main regional and global diplomacies for a ceasefire continues.
France has filed a resolution with the UN Security Council, in coordination with Egypt and Jordan, calling for a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Gaza. The Elysée made it known. During a meeting between the French President Emmanuel Macron, the Egyptian Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi and, connected by videoconference, King Abdallah II of Jordan "the three countries agreed on three elements: the rocket launches must stop , the time has come for a ceasefire and the UN Security Council must take the matter in hand ", the Elysée specified. Subsequently, Paris decided to file the resolution, in agreement with the two Arab countries.
The Israeli Defense Forces confirmed that they dropped 122 bombs in 25 minutes with 52 planes on about 40 underground targets that are part of the so-called Hamas "metro" in Gaza, the network of tunnels that runs under a large part of the territory Palestinian enclave. Arms depots and a command center of the Palestinian Islamist movement were also targeted during the night, spokesman Hidai Zilberman explained. According to the official of the Jewish state, at least 10 members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad were killed.
The attacks - he added - were concentrated in Khan Younis and Rafah in the southern Strip, from where most of the rockets were launched against Israeli cities.
The IDF reported today that around 50 rockets have been fired by members of Palestinian Islamist movements in Gaza towards Israel in the past 12 hours. About 10 rockets did not cross the border and landed inside the Strip, the army added, quoted by the Times of Israel.
At least 219 Palestinians were killed in nearly 10 days of Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip. This is the new budget provided by the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian enclave, administered by Hamas. According to the same source, cited by local media, the victims include 63 children, 36 women and 16 elderly people. Instead, the number of injured rose to at least 1,530. 12 Israelis also lost their lives in the conflict.
US President Joe Biden explicitly expressed his support for the "ceasefire" yesterday in a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "We will continue for as long as necessary to restore peace to the citizens of Israel", however, insisted the premier.