Israel faced a widening conflict on Friday, as deadly violence escalated across the West Bank amid a massive aerial bombardment in Gaza and unprecedented unrest among Arabs and Jews inside the country.
The West Bank clashes, described as among the most intense since the second intifada that began in 2000, left 10 people dead from Israeli fire, the Palestinian health ministry said, as overall fatalities from strikes on Gaza rose to 122.
Palestinian armed groups in the enclave have launched more than 1,800 rockets at Israel since Monday, killing nine people, with sirens wailing across the country throughout the week.
The Israeli army said its overnight assault on Gaza involved fighter jets and tanks hitting a Hamas tunnel network dug under civilian areas.
The bombardment saw huge fireballs turn the night sky orange. Towers and homes were levelled, while rockets tore through the skies towards Israel.
Gazan families sought shelter at a school, fearing another barrage. “All the children are afraid and we are afraid for the children,” said Kamal al-Haddad, who fled with his family to a UN-backed school in Gaza City. Umm Raed al-Baghdadi, who also fled her home, said Gazans “who have been in war since childhood… cannot bear it anymore”.
Israeli soldiers massed on the edge of the blockaded territory, but the army’s overnight statement that a ground invasion had commenced proved false.
The Gaza death toll includes 31 children, and 900 were injured, authorities said, while the Israeli fatalities count one child and one soldier.
The UN said its Security Council would meet on Sunday to address Gaza, while China accused the US of “ignoring the suffering” of Muslims, after Washington stopped the council from meeting on Friday.
Israel said hundreds of the rockets fired towards its territory, including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, had been intercepted.
In a late development, a Lebanese protester who was hit when Israeli troops fired shots at the Lebanon-Israel border, succumbed to his wounds.
