Israeli strikes have set Hamas militants back ‘many years’ says Netanyahu as calls for cease fire grow and death toll in Gaza reaches 215 including 100 women and children

• Netanyahu said air strikes have set Hamas militants back ‘many years’  
• The country’s airstrikes on Gaza have so far killed at least 215 Palestinians  
• It comes as international calls for a ceasefire continue to grow 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that air strikes have set Hamas militants back ‘many years’. 

He made the comments as the country continued its air strikes on Gaza, in violence which has so far killed at least 215 Palestinians including almost 100 women and children,

In Israel 12 people, including two children, have been killed. 

The bombardment of Gaza, which has so far lasted for 9 days, has ‘set Hamas back by many years,’ Mr Netanyahu said on Tuesday. 

The Israeli leader said the militant group had experienced ‘unexpected blows’ and that operations would ‘continue for as long as it takes to restore calm’ for all Israeli citizens. 

It comes as international calls for a ceasefire continue to grow. 

Rockets are launched towards Israel from Gaza City, controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement, on May 18

A Palestinian uses a slingshot during an anti-Israel protest over a cross-border violence between Palestinian militants in Gaza and the Israeli military, near Hawara checkpoint near Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 18

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that air strikes have set Hamas militants back ‘many years’

France has proposed a resolution with the UN Security Council, in coordination with Egypt and Jordan, calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict, the president’s office said late Tuesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is in Paris for summits on Africa, agreed on the resolution in a video conference with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, the statement said.

‘The three countries agreed on three simple elements: The shooting must stop, the time has come for a ceasefire and the UN Security Council must take up the issue,’ the Elysee Palace said.

France, which has been calling for a rapid ceasefire for several days, said it supports mediation led by Egypt.

Macron had on Monday underlined the importance of Egyptian mediation after talks in Paris with Sisi, a key ally and defence client of France despite activists’ concerns over Cairo’s rights record.

The UN Security Council has failed to adopt a simple declaration on the conflict, with the United States, a staunch Israel ally, having rejected three prior statement drafts proposed by China, Norway and Tunisia which called for an end to the fighting.

China’s UN ambassador Zhang Jun said that during a closed-door meeting, members ‘heard the proposal made by our French colleague in the Council and for China, definitely, we are supportive to all effort facilitating the ending of the crisis and the coming back of peace in the Middle East.’

Israeli troops take up position during clashes with Palestinian protesters at the city center of the West Bank city of Hebron on Tuesday 

Palestinian child who was wounded in overnight Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip, receives treatment at Al-Shifa Hospital on May 18, in Gaza City, Gaza

Footage has revealed the moment a Hamas ‘suicide submarine’ drone was obliterated by an Israeli airstrike – and the crew operating it were ‘neutralised’ in their car – as bombardments on Gaza continue despite US calls for ceasefire.

Video taken from the air by Israeli aircraft on Monday shows two missiles smashing into the drone submarine and a huge explosion erupting in the shallow waters close to a tower block in northern Gaza.

Another piece of aerial footage then shows a car being tracked by overhead cross hairs before it is rocked by a blast which brings it to a swift and fiery halt. The IDF said the militants inside had launched the autonomous submarine.

Photographs of the car later showed its roof ripped open in a pattern which suggests a six-bladed ‘ninja’ missile was fired. The missiles are designed to cut through cars, killing targets with minimal collateral damage.

The Israeli Defence Forces did not specify what Hamas were planning to target with their explosive-laden submarine but they have previously fired rockets at naval vessels and oil rigs in the Mediterranean. 

The vessels can be armed with up to 70 pounds of explosives and GPS tracking is used to direct them towards targets. 

‘The submarine that was attacked was launched from the shore in Gaza,’ the military said. ‘It went a few meters deep and was directed at a target, which could have been an Israeli beach or Israel Navy boats.’ 

Video taken from the air by Israeli aircraft shows two missiles smashing into the vessel in quick succession as a huge explosion erupts in shallow waters close to a tower block in northern Gaza

Footage shows smoke billowing beside the Mediterranean after the missile strike 

Another piece of aerial footage then shows a car being tracked by overhead cross hairs before it is rocked by a blast which brings it to a swift and fiery halt. The IDF said the militants inside had launched the autonomous submarine 

The IDF announced 65 Hamas targets were hit by air strikes last night as Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to ‘continue striking the terrorists’ despite Joe Biden’s calls for ceasefire amid a rising civilian death toll.

A total of 212 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including 61 children, since the conflict started last Monday. The IDF says that figure includes 120 members of Hamas and 25 members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. 

Ten Israeli civilians, including a child, have been killed in rocket fire from the Strip. 

The IDF on Monday night said it blasted through more of ‘The Metro’, the militants’ underground network of tunnels and bunkers which are used as hideouts and for shipping weapons underneath the densely populated city. 

Meanwhile Hamas fired 70 rockets – most of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome defence system. 

Photographs of the car later showed its roof ripped open in a pattern which suggests a six-bladed ‘ninja’ missile was fired. The missiles are designed to cut through cars, killing targets with minimal collateral damage 

At least two Israelis were killed and several more were seriously injured on Tuesday after a rocket from Gaza struck a factory in southern Israel – following several hours of relative calm this morning.   

The two dead are both foreign men in their 30s who worked at the factory that was hit, Israel’s Magen David Adom ambulance service said, while seven others were hurt – some of them seriously.

The factory was hit during a late-afternoon rocket salvo fired from Gaza that came after a six-hour lull in the bombardment. Another building in Ashdod was hit, though it was not immediately clear if anyone was hurt.

Israel responded by launching airstrikes on rocket launchers in northern Gaza which it said had been used in the attack. It is unclear if anyone was killed in those attacks. 

Defense Minister Benny Gantz today repeated his vow to ‘bring about complete and long-term calm’ in Gaza, saying the IDF has ‘thousands’ more targets to strike and ‘no person, area or neighborhood in Gaza is immune.’

It comes after Benjamin Netanyahu last-night defied Joe Biden’s calls for a ceasefire, saying that Israel will ‘continue striking at the terrorist targets’.

But despite their breakthroughs against Hamas, Israel faces a growing crisis on three fronts, with an internal battle to quell unrest among Palestinians in the West Bank, and to prevent rocket attacks by terrorists in neighbouring Lebanon.  

Rocket fire from the northern border has increased in recent days amid resentment for the air strikes on Hamas. 

Terror groups in Lebanon such as Hezbollah back Hamas’ efforts against Israel. 

Six rockets were fired from Lebanon late last night but fell short of the border fence, according to the IDF. The military said they responded with an artillery barrage.

Smoke and flames are seen following an Israeli air strike on a building, amid a flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, in Gaza City on Tuesday

Palestinian firefighters inspect the remains of a destroyed residential building targeted by Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday

A Palestinian woman stands next to an unexploded bomb dropped by an Israeli F-16 warplane on Gaza City’s Rimal neighbourhood

Explosions light-up the night sky above buildings in Gaza City as Israeli forces shell the Palestinian enclave in the early hours of Tuesday

Palestinian firefighters douse a huge fire at the Foamco mattress factory following an Israeli airstrike, east of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip

The rockets triggered warning sirens and residents near the northern border were warned to stay inside bomb shelters. No injuries were reported.  

Airstrikes on Hamas targets in Gaza on Tuesday toppled a six-story building that housed libraries and educational centres belonging to the Islamic University, leaving behind a massive mound of concrete slabs. Desks, office chairs, books and computer wires could be seen in the debris. Residents sifted through the rubble, searching for their belongings.

Israel warned the building’s residents ahead of time, sending them fleeing into the predawn darkness, and there were no reports of casualties. Israel typically says such buildings also house militant infrastructure.

‘The whole street started running, then destruction, an earthquake,’ said Jamal Herzallah, a resident of the area. ‘This whole area was shaking.’

Late Monday, strikes had knocked out Gaza’s only Covid-19 testing laboratory and damaged the office of the Qatari Red Crescent.

The rate of positive coronavirus tests in Gaza has been among the highest in the world, at 28 percent.

Hospitals in the poverty-stricken territory, which has been under Israeli blockade for almost 15 years, have been overwhelmed by patients.

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