The Latest: Israeli jets stage heavy airstrikes in Gaza City

The Latest: Israeli jets stage heavy airstrikes in Gaza City

Israeli warplanes have unleashed a series of heavy airstrikes at several locations of Gaza City

By The Associated Press

May 16, 2021, 11:08 PM

• 15 min read

Workers clear the rubble of a building that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike on Saturday, that housed The Associated Press, broadcaster Al-Jazeera and other media outlets, in Gaza City, Sunday, May 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

GAZA CITY — Israeli warplanes have unleashed a series of heavy airstrikes at several locations of Gaza City.

Explosions rocked the city from north to south for 10 minutes early Monday.

The airstrikes were heavier, on a wider area and lasted longer than a series of air raids 24 hours earlier in which 42 Palestinians were killed. That attack was the deadliest single attack in the latest round of violence between Israel ad the Hamas militant group that rules Gaza.

In a brief statement, the Israel Defense Forces says only that “IDF fighter jets are striking terror targets in the Gaza Strip.”

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TOP NEWS IN THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT:

— Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flatten three buildings and kill at least 42 people on Sunday

— An AP reporter documents the terrifying final minutes of leaving the Gaza office before it is blown up by the Israelis

— An Israeli airstrike destroys a high-rise building that housed The Associated Press office in the Gaza Strip despite urgent demands by the news agency to halt. AP's top editor called for an independent investigation into the airstrike.

— Protesters in major US cities urge Israelis to halt attacks on the Gaza Strip

— French police use tear gas to quell pro-Palestinian march that was banned in Paris

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RABAT, Morocco — Moroccans have taken to the streets in the capital and other cities to protest Israeli air raids on Gaza during clashes with the Hamas extremist group that rules the Palestinian territory.

Sizeable demonstrations were held Sunday across the North African kingdom, including in Casablanca, the country’s largest city, where thousands waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans denouncing Israel’s military actions. Protesters also gathered outside the Parliament building in Rabat.

In December, Morocco announced it had resumed relations with Israel as part of a U.S. brokered deal. As part of the agreement, the United States agreed to recognize Morocco’s claim over the disputed Western Sahara region.

On Friday, Moroccan King Mohammed VI ordered forty tons of aid to be be shipped to the West Bank and Gaza in solidarity with Palestinians in the wake of recent clashes.

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UNITED NATIONS — The three U.N. Security Council nations trying to get the U.N.’s most powerful body to take action on the escalating violence between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers say they are still trying to get the U.S. to support a statement including a call to end the fighting.

China, Norway and Tunisia tried unsuccessfully at closed meetings Monday and Wednesday to get agreement on a council statement. Diplomats say the U.S. argued such a statement could interfere with diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the situation.

There also was no agreement at Sunday’s first open meeting on the violence.

The ambassadors of China, Norway and Tunisia issued a joint statement on the Gaza conflict demanding an immediate end of all acts of violence, provocation and destruction.

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PARIS — A media watchdog group is asking the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel’s bombing of buildings housing The Associated Press and other media organizations in Gaza as a possible war crime.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders says in a letter to the court’s chief prosecutor that the offices of 23 international and local media organizations have been destroyed over the past six days.

The group says the Israeli military’s “intentional targeting of media organizations and intentional destruction of their equipment” could violate one of the court’s statues. It says the attacks serve “to reduce, if not neutralize, the media’s capacity to inform the public.”

Israel’s military says Hamas was operating inside the building where AP had offices and accused the militant group of using journalists as human shields.

AP journalists and other tenants were safely evacuated after the Israeli military warned of an imminent strike Saturday.

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