Rocket fire took more lives in Gaza and Israel on Wednesday, continuing a violent conflict between the two that escalated Monday.
At least 48 people have been killed in Gaza, including 14 children, and six people in Israel are dead, officials said. Combined injuries in both Gaza and Israel reach into the hundreds.
Hamas began launching rockets directed at Israel on Monday, claiming to be “defending Jerusalem.” The airstrikes followed the injuries of more than 305 Palestinians, who were hurt during fighting at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. The mosque stands on the Temple Mount, making the location a sacred site for both Jews and Muslims.
WHITE HOUSE: TWO-STATE SOLUTION ‘IS THE ONLY WAY’ TO END ISRAEL-GAZA VIOLENCE
Another source of tension was the threat of eviction of numerous Palestinian families from a neighborhood in East Jerusalem.
Since Monday, Hamas militants have fired more than 1,050 rockets at Israel, the country’s military said, according to the Associated Press. Two hundred of those rockets fell short and landed inside Gaza.
Israeli rockets brought down a 12-story building in Gaza, in which some Hamas offices were housed. Airstrikes also flattened two apartment towers and destroyed a Hamas police building.
The White House condemned attacks carried out by “Hamas and other terrorist groups” in a press briefing Tuesday.
A two-state solution is what the region needs to end such violence, said White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
“That is the only way to ensure the just and lasting peace that two peoples have struggled to achieve,” Psaki said. “Let us affirm that all people of faith deserve to enjoy these important celebrations without fear of violence and work[ing] toward peace and calm for all.”
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week that the conflict could “continue for some time.”
