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<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.palestinechronicle.com/despite-ceasefire-netanyahu-preparing-to-continue-israeli-escalation/">http://www.palestinechronicle.com/despite-ceasefire-netanyahu-preparing-to-continue-israeli-escalation/</a></font><br>
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          <h1 class="entry-title">Despite Ceasefire, Netanyahu
            ‘Preparing to Continue’ Israeli Escalation</h1>
          <div class="mh-meta entry-meta">
            <span class="entry-meta-date updated"><a
                href="http://www.palestinechronicle.com/2019/05/">May 6,
                2019</a></span> <span class="entry-meta-categories"></span>
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        <p class="p1"><span class="s1">Despite the ceasefire, Israeli
            Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, on Monday, that
            Israel is preparing for another round of confrontations in
            the besieged Gaza Strip.</span></p>
        <p class="p3"><span class="s1">Hebrew-language news outlets
            reported that several hours after the Egypt-mediated <span
              class="s2">ceasefire </span>agreement was declared,
            Netanyahu said in a statement:</span></p>
        <blockquote>
          <p class="p3"><span class="s1">“In the past two days, we have
              hit Hamas and Islamic Jihad with great force.”</span></p>
        </blockquote>
        <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550"
          data-dnt="true">
          <p dir="ltr" lang="en">As ceasefire goes into effect,
            Netanyahu says Gaza campaign not over | The Times of Israel
            <a href="https://t.co/ldd4PM5nVp">https://t.co/ldd4PM5nVp</a>
            <a href="https://t.co/hJevp5XOcr">pic.twitter.com/hJevp5XOcr</a></p>
          <p>— Middle East Peace Plan (@MiddleEastPlan) <a
href="https://twitter.com/MiddleEastPlan/status/1125371046142644226?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May
              6, 2019</a></p>
        </blockquote>
        <p class="p3"><span class="s1">Netanyahu pointed out, </span></p>
        <blockquote>
          <p class="p3"><span class="s1">“We struck more than 350
              targets, hit terrorist operatives and their leader, and
              destroyed terrorist infrastructure.”</span></p>
        </blockquote>
        <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550"
          data-dnt="true">
          <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Netanyahu says Gaza campaign not over;
            Hamas officials give ceasefire ultimatum <a
              href="https://t.co/p7T8wGOcdY">https://t.co/p7T8wGOcdY</a>
            <a href="https://t.co/8iOWEqiiQC">pic.twitter.com/8iOWEqiiQC</a></p>
          <p>— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) <a
href="https://twitter.com/i24NEWS_EN/status/1125362078393491457?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May
              6, 2019</a></p>
        </blockquote>
        <p class="p3"><span class="s1">“Still,” he added, “The campaign
            is not over, it requires patience and deliberation. We are
            preparing to continue.”</span></p>
        <font size="-2">__________________________________________________________________________<br>
          <a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/israel-escalates-deadly-attacks-gaza">https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/israel-escalates-deadly-attacks-gaza</a></font>
        <h1 class="reader-title">Israel escalates deadly attacks in Gaza</h1>
        <p class="node__submitted">
          <span class="field field-author"><a
              href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/tamara-nassar">Tamara
              Nassar</a></span> <span class="field field-blog">-</span>
          <span class="field field-publication-date"><span
              class="date-display-single"
              content="2019-05-05T18:28:33+00:00">5 May 2019</span></span>
        </p>
      </div>
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              <article>
                <figure id="file-78411"><source media="(min-width:
                    72rem)"><figcaption><small><span></span></small></figcaption></figure>
                <p><em>This article has been updated since initial
                    publication.</em></p>
                <p>Israel’s bombardment of the occupied Gaza Strip
                  entered its third day on Sunday.</p>
                <p>By late evening on Sunday, Israeli strikes had killed
                  19 Palestinians that day, bringing the toll to at
                  least 27 Palestinians slain since Israel escalated <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/gaza-killings-spike-ahead-eurovision">its
                    lethal attacks</a> on the territory on Friday.</p>
                <p>Health officials in Gaza continued to announce new
                  deaths on an almost hourly basis, <a
                    href="https://twitter.com/press221/status/1125062309955739648">including</a>
                  late Sunday night Amani al-Madhoun, a 33-year-old
                  woman who was pregnant.</p>
                <p>She is the second pregnant woman to die in the
                  context of the current escalation, although human
                  rights organizations continued to investigate the
                  cause of an explosion that killed a pregnant mother
                  and a young child on Saturday.</p>
                <p>Also Sunday evening, the health ministry in Gaza <a
href="https://twitter.com/press221/status/1125098071782764544">announced</a>
                  that three people had been killed in an Israeli
                  airstrike in the north, <a
                    href="https://twitter.com/press221/status/1125086229798764545">including</a>
                  a baby, though few details were immediately available.</p>
                <p>In Israel, four people have been killed as
                  Palestinian resistance factions returned fire with
                  barrages of rockets reaching dozens of kilometers into
                  Israel.</p>
                <p>Israeli warplanes and artillery have struck more than
                  100 sites across the besieged territory, totally
                  destroying seven large residential and commercial
                  buildings, at least 14 homes, as well as offices, <a
                    href="https://mezan.org/post/28612/">according</a>
                  to the Gaza-based human rights group Al Mezan.</p>
                <p>Dozens more homes in areas surrounding targeted
                  buildings sustained damage.</p>
                <p>“The raids have caused fear and panic among
                  civilians,” especially children, who are half of
                  Gaza’s two million population.</p>
                <div id="file-78426">
                  <div>
                    <blockquote data-width="550">
                      <p dir="ltr" lang="en">During the Ongoing Israeli
                        Offensive on <a
                          href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Gaza?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Gaza</a>
                        Strip: Israel Targets Press Offices and Cultural
                        Institutions<a href="https://t.co/x32KrST5Bx">https://t.co/x32KrST5Bx</a>
                        <a href="https://t.co/GXyTbg9jW5">pic.twitter.com/GXyTbg9jW5</a></p>
                      — PCHR (@pchrgaza) <a
href="https://twitter.com/pchrgaza/status/1125075910888165376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May
                        5, 2019</a></blockquote>
                  </div>
                </div>
                <p>In one such attack late Saturday night, an Israeli
                  airstrike completely destroyed a building in Jabaliya
                  in northern Gaza, belonging to Ahmad Abu Zaida. The
                  three-story building had been the home to 16 people
                  including eight children.</p>
                <p>Heavy attacks were continuing into Sunday night,
                  according to Palestinians in Gaza.</p>
                <div id="file-78431">
                  <div>
                    <blockquote data-width="550">
                      <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Explosions are literally
                        non stop. Every second. A huge rocking
                        explosion. Ears hurt. Colon is acting up.
                        Sisters are panicking. Dad is angrily looking at
                        me since I insisted on letting me get ice cream.
                        What's happening. <a
                          href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Gaza?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Gaza</a>
                        <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GazaUnderAttack?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GazaUnderAttack</a></p>
                      — Omar Ghraieb🇵🇸 (@Omar_Gaza) <a
href="https://twitter.com/Omar_Gaza/status/1125060347617062913?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May
                        5, 2019</a></blockquote>
                  </div>
                </div>
                <p>This video shows the total destruction of a building
                  in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City on Sunday
                  evening:</p>
                <div id="file-78436">
                  <div>
                    <blockquote data-width="550">
                      <p dir="rtl" lang="ar">لحظة تدمير طيران الاحتلال
                        لعمارة أبو قمر في حي الصبرة بمدينة <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D8%BA%D8%B2%D8%A9?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#غزة</a>
                        قبل قليل. <a href="https://t.co/s25EuBRYOv">pic.twitter.com/s25EuBRYOv</a></p>
                      — شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) <a
href="https://twitter.com/qudsn/status/1125063717861904386?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May
                        5, 2019</a></blockquote>
                  </div>
                </div>
                <div id="file-78481">
                  <div>
                    <blockquote data-width="550">
                      <p dir="rtl" lang="ar"><a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D8%B4%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%AF?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#شاهد</a>..
                        طائرات الاحتلال عمارة "أبو قمر" في غزة مساء
                        اليوم. <a href="https://t.co/YVU2JSZhaZ">pic.twitter.com/YVU2JSZhaZ</a></p>
                      — المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) <a
href="https://twitter.com/PalinfoAr/status/1125075959143641090?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May
                        5, 2019</a></blockquote>
                  </div>
                </div>
                <p>Since Saturday, Israel has completely closed access
                  to Gaza’s territorial waters and closed all goods
                  crossings, except for allowing the entrance of fuel
                  for the territory’s only power plant.</p>
                <p>“The crossings cannot be used as an instrument of war
                  to pressure the civilian population in the Strip,” the
                  Israeli human rights group <a
                    href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/gisha">Gisha</a>
                  <a href="https://gisha.org/updates/9975">stated</a> on
                  Saturday. “Even in the current security climate, at a
                  very minimum, humanitarian access must be allowed.”</p>
                <h2>Extrajudicial killing</h2>
                <p>On Sunday, Israel further escalated the confrontation
                  by carrying out an extrajudicial killing in Gaza –
                  reportedly the first of its kind in <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/430-gaza-rockets-fired-at-israel-one-israeli-dead-six-palestinians-said-killed-1.7199036">four
                    years</a> – when it fired a missile at the civilian
                  car of Hamed Ahmad Abed al-Khoudari, whom it <a
href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/israel-says-latest-gaza-strike-killed-hamas-chief-iran-liaison/">claims</a>
                  was responsible for transferring money to Gaza from
                  Iran.</p>
                <p>Palestinian media posted video of the car moments
                  after the Israeli missile attack:</p>
                <div id="file-78441">
                  <div>
                    <blockquote data-width="550">
                      <p dir="rtl" lang="ar">اللحظات الاولى بعد استشهاد
                        حامد الخضري باستهداف سيارته بحي الدرج بغزة، قبل
                        قليل.<a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D8%BA%D8%B2%D8%A9_%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%AA_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B5%D9%81?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#غزة_تحت_القصف</a>
                        <a href="https://t.co/8HpmflRg7Q">pic.twitter.com/8HpmflRg7Q</a></p>
                      — شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) <a
href="https://twitter.com/qudsn/status/1125013743274995713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May
                        5, 2019</a></blockquote>
                  </div>
                </div>
                <p>Media circulated this photo of al-Khoudari following
                  his death:</p>
                <div id="file-78446">
                  <div>
                    <blockquote data-width="550">
                      <p dir="rtl" lang="ar">صورة الشهيد حامد الخضري
                        "34" عاما والذي ارتقى قبل قليل جراء قصف الاحتلال
                        لسيارة كان يستقلها بمنطقة السدرة. <a
                          href="https://t.co/uy4tW9y7Ny">pic.twitter.com/uy4tW9y7Ny</a></p>
                      — وكالة الرأي (@alrayps) <a
href="https://twitter.com/alrayps/status/1125009485997723648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May
                        5, 2019</a></blockquote>
                  </div>
                </div>
                <p>Israel’s resort to this tactic may be a sign that it
                  feels that its strategy has so far failed to dictate
                  an end to the confrontation on its own terms –
                  effectively that Palestinians return to a status quo
                  of granting Israel peace and quiet while Gaza remains
                  under an unrelenting blockade that is causing the
                  humanitarian situation in the territory to spiral
                  downwards.</p>
                <p>“Efforts by the United Nations and Egypt to broker a
                  ceasefire between Israel and terror groups in the
                  Strip yielded no concrete results as of Sunday
                  afternoon, as neither side appeared interested in
                  returning to the conditions laid out before the
                  outbreak of violence,” <em>The Times of Israel</em> <a
href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/2-more-israelis-killed-by-gaza-fire-idf-assassinates-hamas-moneyman/">reported</a>,
                  using derogatory terminology Israel uses to describe
                  Palestinian political and military resistance
                  organizations.</p>
                <p>The publication added that on Sunday “the Israeli
                  security cabinet held a meeting about the fighting in
                  Gaza and later instructed the military to intensify
                  its attacks in the Strip.”</p>
                <p>The current escalation has been <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/gaza-killings-spike-ahead-eurovision">blamed</a>
                  by analysts and diplomats on Israel’s refusal to
                  implement understandings to ease the siege on Gaza,
                  reached in order to end the last major confrontation
                  prior to Israel’s 9 April election.</p>
                <h2>More violence</h2>
                <p>Israeli leaders have been demanding more violence
                  against Palestinians in Gaza.</p>
                <p>“We must increase our reaction in Gaza until there is
                  quiet, and to return to targeted assassinations,”
                  Israeli public security minister <a
                    href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/gilad-erdan">Gilad
                    Erdan</a> <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/430-gaza-rockets-fired-at-israel-one-israeli-dead-six-palestinians-said-killed-1.7199036">said</a>.</p>
                <p>But any return to “quiet,” even if a ceasefire is
                  reached, will be short-lived without a fundamental
                  change in Israel’s policy.</p>
                <p>“There is no military solution that can usher in
                  long-term quiet,” Gisha <a
                    href="https://gisha.org/updates/9975">stated</a>.</p>
                <p>“Regional stability will only be made possible once
                  Israel makes substantial, forthright steps to protect
                  the human rights of Gaza’s two million residents and
                  allow the Strip’s shattered economy to recover and
                  develop.”</p>
                <p>“Ceasefire agreements and ‘gestures’ by Israel to
                  ‘ease’ the closure on Gaza cannot substitute long-term
                  solutions, including an end to the occupation,” the
                  Israeli human rights group added.</p>
                <p>There is also likely to be little change while the
                  so-called international community continues to favor
                  Israel.</p>
                <p>On Sunday, United Nations envoy <a
                    href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/nickolay-mladenov">Nickolay
                    Mladenov</a>, who has been attempting to broker a
                  ceasefire, issued a one-sided condemnation of
                  Palestinian rocket fire into Israel, but no
                  condemnation of Israel’s attacks on Palestinian
                  civilian sites and its collective punishment of the
                  entire population in Gaza:</p>
                <div id="file-78451">
                  <div>
                    <blockquote data-width="550">
                      <p dir="ltr" lang="en">I condemn the continuing
                        launching of rockets from <a
                          href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Gaza?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Gaza</a>.
                        Enough <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Palestinian?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Palestinian</a>
                        and <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Israeli?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Israeli</a>
                        lives have been lost, people injured, houses
                        damaged and destroyed! It is time to de-escalate
                        and return to the understandings of the past few
                        months before it is too late. <a
                          href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UN?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UN</a></p>
                      — Nickolay E. MLADENOV (@nmladenov) <a
href="https://twitter.com/nmladenov/status/1125031226350428164?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May
                        5, 2019</a></blockquote>
                  </div>
                </div>
                <p>European Union foreign policy chief <a
                    href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/federica-mogherini">Federica
                    Mogherini</a> similarly <a
href="https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage/61848/statement-high-representativevice-president-federica-mogherini-continuing-gaza-escalation_en">expressed</a>
                  condemnation exclusively of Palestinians, and
                  addressed “condolences” only for Israeli victims of
                  violence.</p>
                <h2>Rockets reach further</h2>
                <p>Israel says that <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/430-gaza-rockets-fired-at-israel-one-israeli-dead-six-palestinians-said-killed-1.7199036">more
                    than 600 rockets</a> have been fired from Gaza,
                  claiming four lives.</p>
                <p>On Sunday, rockets fired by Palestinian resistance
                  factions <a
                    href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26F74xmj3uA">reached</a>
                  as far as Bir al-Saba, called Beersheva by Israelis,
                  some 40 kilometers from Gaza.</p>
                <p>Moshe Agadi, 58, <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israeli-man-killed-after-gaza-rocket-strike-in-ashkelon-1.7198901">died</a>
                  of shrapnel injuries he sustained from a rocket that
                  hit a family home in Ashkelon overnight Saturday. He
                  was pronounced dead at Barzilai hospital in Ashkelon
                  on Sunday.</p>
                <p>Zaed al-Hamamda, 50, was killed when a rocket hit a
                  factory in Ashkelon on Sunday afternoon.</p>
                <p>He was a resident of a Bedouin community, <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israeli-man-killed-after-gaza-rocket-strike-in-ashkelon-1.7198901">according</a>
                  to the newspaper <em>Haaretz</em>.</p>
                <p>Another person who was not immediately named was
                  killed in that same attack.</p>
                <p>A fourth Israeli in the port city of Ashdod was
                  pronounced dead Sunday afternoon after sustaining
                  shrapnel wounds.</p>
                <p>On Saturday, the joint operations room of Palestinian
                  resistance organizations had <a
                    href="https://twitter.com/AliAbunimah/status/1124825097422999557">warned</a>
                  that armed groups would extend the range of their
                  targeting if Israel continued its attacks on
                  Palestinian residential buildings.</p>
                <p>Islamic Jihad, one of the main resistance factions, <a
href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/islamic-jihad-threatens-attack-on-dimona-nuclear-facility-ben-gurion-airport/">warned</a>
                  that it could target Israel’s nuclear facility at
                  Dimona and disrupt the <a
                    href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/eurovision">Eurovision
                    Song Contest</a> that is being hosted in Tel Aviv
                  from 14 to 18 May.</p>
                <p>The group’s military wing <a
                    href="http://saraya.ps/post/56375/">claimed</a> on
                  Saturday that it had fired a new type of rocket with a
                  more powerful warhead “in response to [Israel’s]
                  targeting of civilians, children and residential
                  buildings.”</p>
                <p>Erdan, the Israeli minister, <a
                    href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/262705">said</a>
                  in response that Eurovision “should not be a
                  consideration of the intensity of the blow” Israel
                  would deal against Palestinians in Gaza.</p>
                <p>Israeli schools were canceled across the south on
                  Sunday.</p>
                <p>Gaza’s education ministry <a
                    href="https://twitter.com/qudsn/status/1124583321026138112">announced</a>
                  that schools are free to decide whether or not to
                  close.</p>
                <p>Gaza has no bomb shelters.</p>
                <h2>Palestinian fighters killed</h2>
                <p>Two separate Israeli missile strikes killed four
                  fighters from Saraya al-Quds, the military wing of
                  Islamic Jihad on Sunday.</p>
                <p>Al Mezan named Mahmoud Subhi Khamis Bawadi, 25, and
                  Fawzi Abd al-Halim Fawzi Bawadi, 24, as the two
                  fighters killed in an Israeli missile strike on
                  farmland near al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.</p>
                <p>Pictures of the two circulated on social media
                  following their death:</p>
                <div id="file-78456">
                  <div>
                    <blockquote data-width="550">
                      <p dir="rtl" lang="ar">🔴<a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D8%B5%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%A9?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#صورة</a>||👇👇<br>
                        الشهيدان المجاهدان من سرايا القدس: فوزي بوادي
                        ومحمود عيسى. <a href="https://t.co/03Y2o079wm">pic.twitter.com/03Y2o079wm</a></p>
                      — Ahmed Abu Aziz (@Ahmed_AbuAziz) <a
href="https://twitter.com/Ahmed_AbuAziz/status/1124862814609379330?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May
                        5, 2019</a></blockquote>
                  </div>
                </div>
                <p>Another Israeli missile strike on a resistance
                  facility in al-Shujaiyeh neighborhood of Gaza City
                  killed two fighters from the same military wing.</p>
                <p>Al Mezan named them as Bilal Muhammad Abd al-Banna,
                  29, from the Sabra neighborhood in southern Gaza City,
                  and Abdullah Nofal Muhammad Abu al-Ata, 21, from
                  al-Shujaiyeh.</p>
                <p>Pictures of them circulated in local media:</p>
                <div id="file-78461">
                  <div>
                    <blockquote data-width="550">
                      <p dir="rtl" lang="ar">الشهيد عبدالله أبو العطا
                        والذي ارتقى بقصف للاحتلال شرق حي الشجاعية بغزة،
                        قبل قليل. <a href="https://t.co/MnWr60iIlN">pic.twitter.com/MnWr60iIlN</a></p>
                      — شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) <a
href="https://twitter.com/qudsn/status/1124994312020926464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May
                        5, 2019</a></blockquote>
                  </div>
                </div>
                <div id="file-78466">
                  <div>
                    <blockquote data-width="550">
                      <p dir="rtl" lang="ar">الشهيد بلال محمد البنا
                        والذي ارتقى بقصف للاحتلال شرق <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D8%BA%D8%B2%D8%A9?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#غزة</a>.
                        <a href="https://t.co/Dh7cOL8MYq">pic.twitter.com/Dh7cOL8MYq</a></p>
                      — شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) <a
href="https://twitter.com/qudsn/status/1124997952777400320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May
                        5, 2019</a></blockquote>
                  </div>
                </div>
                <h2>Dispute over lethal strike</h2>
                <p>Saba Mahmoud Abu Arar, a child of one and a half
                  years, and her pregnant mother, Filastin Saleh Ahmad
                  Abu Shihma, 35, died after an airstrike reportedly hit
                  their family’s home east of Gaza City on Saturday.</p>
                <p>Another child in the home was moderately injured,
                  according to the Gaza health ministry.</p>
                <p>Early Sunday, the Israeli army stated that
                  “Palestinian weapons caused the tragic death of a
                  mother in Gaza and her baby,” adding that its
                  “assessment indicates that the incident had nothing to
                  do with [Israel Defense Forces] strikes.”</p>
                <div id="file-78471">
                  <div>
                    <blockquote data-width="550">
                      <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Yesterday, Palestinian
                        weapons caused the tragic death of a mother in
                        Gaza and her baby. Hamas blamed Israel.
                        Journalists amplified the lie. Our assessment
                        indicates that the incident had nothing to do
                        with IDF strikes.</p>
                      — Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) <a
href="https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1125001868667760641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May
                        5, 2019</a></blockquote>
                  </div>
                </div>
                <p>The Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights <a
                    href="https://pchrgaza.org/en/?p=12442">said</a> the
                  origin of the airstrike remains “undetermined” and its
                  field workers are “still investigating the
                  circumstances of the explosion.”</p>
                <p>Al Mezan also did not attribute a cause for the
                  explosion that killed the mother and child.</p>
                <h2>“Peaceful holiday destination”</h2>
                <p>The Electronic Intifada’s Ali Abunimah appeared on Al
                  Jazeera English on Saturday to discuss Israel’s attack
                  on Gaza.</p>
                <p>“The Israeli government thinks it’s a fantastic idea
                  to keep more than two million people, half of them
                  children, living in a caged ghetto cut off from the
                  outside world,” Abunimah said.</p>
                <p>“The siege is violence, it’s constant violence, it
                  kills people, it kills their lives. And this is what
                  people in Gaza are trying to end.”</p>
                <p>“As long as Israel thinks this is a really great way
                  to treat two million people in the Gaza Strip, this
                  will keep happening, because people in Gaza have to
                  get the message out that they are human,” Abunimah
                  added.</p>
                <p>“Israel cannot continue to terrorize and besiege and
                  kill them in this way and have a lovely Eurovision
                  Song Contest where it falsely presents itself to the
                  world as this lovely peaceful holiday destination
                  which is just being terrorized by these awful people
                  in the Gaza Strip.”</p>
                <p><em>Ali Abunimah contributed reporting and analysis.</em></p>
                <br>
              </article>
            </div>
          </div>
        </div>
      </div>
      <div> </div>
    </div>
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