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Gaza Education Ministry: Israeli strikes so far claimed lives of 20 schoolchildren

The father of 12-year-old Rahaf al-Dayer holds her covered body at al-Shifa hospital, after she was killed in an Israeli airstrike that destroyed the upper floors of a commercial building and caused damage to the nearby health ministry and prime health care clinic, in Gaza City, on May 17, 2021.

The Gaza Ministry of Education says at least 20 schoolchildren have been killed in Israel’s ongoing onslaught on the besieged coastal enclave, urging the international community to intervene and hold the Tel Aviv regime accountable for its crimes and brutal acts of aggression against Palestinians.

The ministry made the remarks in a press release on Monday, adding that the 20 students who were killed in Israeli airstrikes were enrolled in public and private schools as well as schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Palestine’s official Wafa news agency reported.

The ministry also said the killing of innocent students and children in Gaza, the bombing of their homes, and the targeting of their families reveal Israel's persistence in killing, stressing that it will spare no effort in holding the Tel Aviv regime accountable for the crimes through international political, diplomatic and legal forums.

It further called on international human rights organizations and education ministries around the world to expose these violations and put pressure on Israel to stop these crimes, which constitute a clear violation of all international norms, conventions and laws.

Since last Monday, the Israeli military has taken the coastal enclave under unremitting and indiscriminate aerial assaults.

The Gaza-based resistance front has retaliated by launching hundreds of rockets into the occupied territories.

Israeli settlers continue provocations, storm al-Aqsa, Palestinian cemetery

In another development on Monday, dozens of Israeli settlers stormed a Palestinian cemetery close to the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied Old City of Jerusalem al-Quds, performing provocative dances and Talmudic rituals in the area.

According to eyewitnesses, the settlers first stormed al-Ghazali Square outside the holy site near the Mosque’s Asbat Gate (Lion’s Gate) and performed Talmudic rituals there, before breaking into the Bab al-Rahma graveyard.  

The Israeli settlers' raid of the cemetery and the vicinity of the Bab al-Asbat came after they failed to force their way into the Al-Aqsa Mosque through the Bab al-Maghariba for the second day in a row.

Tensions are simmering in Jerusalem al-Quds. Hundreds of Palestinians have been wounded after Israeli forces launched a heavy-handed crackdown on Palestinian worshipers at al-Aqsa Mosque during the final days of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

The escalation came ahead of the planned forced expulsions of dozens of Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, where illegal Israeli settlers are looking to take over the properties of Palestinian families.

The violent crackdown by Israeli forces against Palestinians in Jerusalem al-Quds has sparked global concern.

Jordanians hold protest outside Israeli embassy for 7th day

Meanwhile, thousands of people have staged a protest outside the Israeli embassy in the Jordanian capital, Amman, for the seventh consecutive day to demand the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador.

Also on Sunday, Jordanians gathered in front of the Israeli embassy in the capital to voice their support for Palestinians living in occupied Jerusalem al-Quds and the besieged Gaza Strip.

According to Jordan's Ammon news agency, protesters chanted slogans demanding the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from Amman, the cancellation of the Jordan-Israel peace treaty as well as the gas deal with the Tel Aviv regime.

The photo shows Jordanians gathering in front of the Israeli embassy in the capital, Amman. (Photo by Ammon news agency)

The protesters also demanded an end to diplomatic ties with Israel and denounced the Tel Aviv regime’s acts of aggression against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds.

They also chanted slogans in support of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, which is located in the Gaza strip.

Separately on Monday, Israeli warplanes carried out fresh airstrikes on Gaza, targeting a residential house.

Footage shows Israeli warplanes destroying the Palestinian home off the shore of Khan Yunis, south of the blockaded enclave.

Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, has also announced that it has struck the Taslim and Hatsarim military bases with a round of rockets.  

Israel started the escalation against the coastal sliver after Gazans rose up in protest against its serious violations in the nearby Israeli-occupied territory of the West Bank, especially the holy city of Jerusalem al-Quds.

The Israeli military has been launching large-scale airstrikes across Gaza, razing homes and civilian infrastructure to the ground. The regime’s artillery and tanks have also been targeting the blockaded coastal enclave.

Despite international calls for an immediate halt of all hostilities, including from United Nations Chief Antonio Guterres, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged that the onslaught against the Gaza Strip will continue.

Israel has waged three wholesale wars against the territory so far, killing thousands of Palestinians in each. The latest escalation has raised fears of another full-blown war. 

Gaza-based resistance movements have fired hundreds of rockets towards the occupied territories in retaliation for both the violations targeting al-Quds and the bloodletting that has hit Gaza.

The Gaza Health Ministry says 200 people, including 35 women and 59 children, have lost their lives in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.


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