CAIRO: A naval police building was struck by Israeli rockets early Monday morning in Gaza. The hit left one Palestinian police officer in his twenties killed and four others wounded, one seriously. According to Israeli news media, the airstrike also knocked out electrical power for more than 100,000 people in Gaza. Eyewitnesses in Gaza said Israeli warplanes fired at least four missiles toward the police building in the al-Sudaniya district of Gaza city. The strike is likely to be an answer to a homemade projectile fired from Gaza, landing in the Shaar Hanegev area. No injuries were reported of this airstrike. These firings prompted the Palestinian death toll to rise to a total of 13 since new violence broke out over the weekend. Here, two subsequent deals to lay down arms brokered by Egypt were broken. In the first truce brokered by Egyptian officials, the warring parties agreed to a deal to end violence Saturday at 6 AM. But two rockets were reported fired from Gaza into Israel after this deadline, as an answer to an Israeli bombing targeting an Islamic Jihad base in southern Gaza on Saturday afternoon. Also, medical sources reported one Palestinian was killed and one wounded on Sunday morning in an Israeli air strike on Gaza, which came just hours after the parties agreed on the second truce. The number of dead Palestinians had reached 10 at the time, as Israeli rockets killed first five, then 4 Islamic Jihad militants from the group's armed wing, the Al-Quds Brigade. Earlier on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister denied talks of a renewed ceasefire with Islamic Jihad militants in a comment on the recent upsurge of violence. Dubbed “Bloody Sunday” by Gaza Tv News website, last weekend saw the most severe fighting between Israel and the coastal enclave since August. Then, 27 Palestinians and one Israeli was killed, after Israel bombarded the strip. This was done as Israel blamed a Gaza militant group for an earlier attack in Eilat, Israel killing 8 people. In a report by the independent Trident Commission in the United Kingdom that was published in the Guardian newspaper on Monday, Israel is reported to be working on improving its nuclear weapons capabilities. By extending the range of Israel's Jericho 3 land-to-land missiles, they will have the capabilities of transcontinental missiles. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed deep concern last week at the recent escalation of violence and bloodshed in both southern Israel and the Gaza Strip. “He hopes that the parties will fully respect the calm as brokered by Egypt,” a UN statement then noted, referring to the reported ceasefires organized by Egypt. The deadly attacks have taken place just weeks after Israel and the Palestinians agreed to a prisoner exchange that senior United Nations officials said they hoped would lead the two sides to make further hard decisions towards an eventual peace agreement to end the long-running conflict. BM
