Credit:  Mohamed Mahmoud Awad  /  Rimal neighborhood in the centre of Gaza City with smoke rising after 4 May 2019 Israeli airstrikes.

DIPLOMATIC TIMES STAFF

UNITED NATIONS – NEW YORK –  The UN condemned the indiscriminate firing of rockets in attacks in Gaza after Israel’s  targeted assassination of a top Islamic Jihad leader.  Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City reportedly left  at least 23 Palestinians dead since Tuesday.  Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported that more than 100 rockets had been fired into Israel during the two days of fighting, bringing the total to around 300, and news reports said around 50 people had been treated for injuries. Palestinian Islamic Jihad reportedly confirmed that those killed in Gaza included members of its military wing.

“I am very concerned about the ongoing and serious escalation between Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Israel, following the targeted killing of one of the group’s leaders inside Gaza yesterday. The indiscriminate launching of rockets and mortars against population centres is absolutely unacceptable and must stop immediately.There can be no justification for any attacks against civilians.”

-Nickolay Mladenov,  UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process said in a statement.

The UN Envoy expressed his concern following Israel’s targeted killing of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader inside Gaza on Tuesday.  According to local reports, the attack not only killed the militant leader, but his wife and others.  Arguing that the continuing escalation is “very dangerous”, Mr. Mladenov maintained that it is “yet another attempt to undermine the efforts to improve the dire socio-economic conditions in Gaza and “another devastating conflict” must be prevented.

“The UN is working to urgently de-escalate the situation”, he concluded.  However, some felt the UN statement was one-sided in condemning the Palestinian rocket attacks instead of Israel’s airstrike that killed eight members of a family in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, including five children and two women. The Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights identified the family as the al-Sawarkeh family.

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