Daily Times

Israel continues to pound hapless Palestinians in Gaza with airstrikes, taking a toll of women, children and old men. Amongst the victims was a pregnant woman, while amid the buildings targeted in the Gaza Strip was the Turkish Anadolu Agency office. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan strongly condemned the Israeli atrocities including the attack on the Turkish news agency. Israel claimed that it hit over 350 targets in Gaza which included military compounds and training camps, naval vessels and weapons facilities. The military also stated that it destroyed a cross-border attack tunnel dug by Islamic Jihad and the houses of operatives in Gaza where military activity was being conducted.

The latest flareup comes on the eve of Independence Day and less than two weeks before Israel hosts thousands of tourists for the Eurovision song contest. The fighting erupted as Egypt was trying to mediate a longer-term truce between the sides.

The Eurovision song contest in Israel later this month is likely to include glam costumes, eager tourists and political controversy. It also marks a shift in the country’s tourism strategy, promoting Tel Aviv as a hotbed of culture and innovation after decades of focusing on religious-based visits.

Delegations from 41 countries will perform May 14-18 when Israel hosts Europe’s annual song competition for the first time in a generation. With about 10,000 tourists due, the event is expected to inject some $10 million into the local economy. The event is already marred with controversy on religious grounds as well as the extremely high cost of tickets.

Israel asserts that its deadly air strikes were in retaliation to rocket attacks by Palestine. In the largest escalation of fighting since the 2014 Gaza war, the Israeli army reported that more than 600 rockets had been launched from Gaza into Israel. The Israeli army said its retaliatory airstrikes and tank fire struck more than 120 targets belonging to Hamas, the Islamist paramilitary group that controls Gaza, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or PIJ, a rival group that joined Hamas in the cross-border attacks.

Everyone in US Congress does not see eye to eye with the US President. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (Democrat from Michigan), the first Palestinian-American elected to Congress, called out what she called “dehumanizing” framing of Palestinians in coverage of the tensions

The flareup in tensions comes in the wake of national elections where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned victorious yet again but has not formed a governing coalition. There is a dichotomy here since on the one hand, Israel was eager to showcase itself as a regional island of safety and prosperity during the Independence Day festivities while on the other, for the first time in almost five years, Israel returned to targeted killings of Hamas officials, a tactic increasingly demanded by right-wing Israeli political figures seeking harsh measures against the Islamist militia and one that stops short of a ground war in which Israeli soldiers would face significant risk. Israeli authorities released a video showing an attack against Hamed Ahmed Khudari, 34, who they said was “responsible for transferring Iranian money to Hamas and Islamic Jihad,” a rival group that has joined Hamas in the latest combat against Israel.

Hurling accusations at Iran, the Israeli army claimed that “the funds were used to build the hundreds of rockets recently fired at Israel,” adding, “Iran will need to find a new money man in Gaza.”

Targeting Khudari appeared to be a warning to senior Hamas leadership. Over the weekend, the Israeli army announced it had struck the office of the Hamas Political Bureau’s Tawfiq Abu Naim, minister of Interior and head of the Preventive Security.

The latest round of violence began with gunfire during weekly Gaza border protests on Friday, in which two Israeli troops were wounded by a Palestinian sniper, according to the Israeli army. Hamas had hoped to bring a tangible achievement to the nearly 2 million beleaguered Palestinians who live under its control in the Gaza Strip, after a year of weekly protests that achieved little, with more than 180 Gazans killed in clashes with Israeli troops and thousands wounded. With the holy month of Ramadan’s onset, Israeli atrocities assume enormous proportions.

As expected, instead of being neutral, US President Donald Trump put the onus on Palestinians and tasked them to end the violence and work for peace. Trump tweeted Sunday. “To the Gazan people – these terrorist acts against Israel will bring you nothing but more misery. END the violence and work towards peace – it can happen!”

Everyone in US Congress does not see eye to eye with the US President. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (Democrat from Michigan), the first Palestinian-American elected to Congress, called out what she called “dehumanizing” framing of Palestinians in coverage of the tensions.

Despite the onset of the holy month of Ramazan, the apex body of the Muslims, the OIC remains mum over the air strikes and artillery pounding by Israel, claiming numerous lives of Palestinians. Brave residents of Gaza continue to resist and suffer but the international community is callously silent.

The writer is a retired Group Captain of PAF. He is a columnist, analyst and TV talk show host