Netanyahu vows unrelenting response to Hamas;
Arab-Jewish violence spreads
Fresh rocket barrage hits southern Israel; Acre theater set alight; 2 Arab kids hurt after home firebombed in Jaffa; riots break out in northern Israel
By TOI staff 15 May 2021, 1:50 am
Black smoke billows after an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City targeted the Intaj Bank linked to Hamas on May 14, 2021.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that Israel had no plans to relent in its attacks against Hamas in Gaza, as the military kept up its bombardment of terrorists in the Palestinian enclave and rockets rained down on Israeli cities.
“I said we would strike Hamas and other terror groups with significant blows, and we are doing so,” Netanyahu said. “Hamas leaders think they can escape from our grasp. They cannot escape. We can reach them everywhere — all of [Hamas’s] people and we will continue to do so.”
At the same time, reports indicated progress in international mediation efforts aimed at bringing five days of deadly fighting to a halt, even as violence spread to the West Bank and Israel’s northern border, and riots kicked off in the northern part of the country.
Earlier Friday, a Hezbollah operative posing as a Lebanese protester was killed when a small group of demonstrators breached the fence and crossed the border into Israel, prompting Israeli forces to fire warning shots.
Separately, three projectiles were fired from Syria into Israel, falling in an open area in the Golan Heights. No injuries were reported. On Thursday night, three rockets fired from southern Lebanon landed in the sea off the coast of northern Israel.