TEL AVIV, May 11. /TASS/. The number of Palestinians who were injured in clashes with Israeli law enforcement agents in East Jerusalem and the West Bank has risen to 714, while Hamas stressed that the fight against Israel will continue despite the missile strike carried out by the Israeli military against its armed group in the Gaza Strip which led to 25 deaths and more than 100 injuries, Palestine’s Saut Al-Aqsa and Donia Al-Watan radio stations reported on Tuesday.
"The number of people injured in the occupied West Bank and in Jerusalem in clashes [with Israeli power structure officers] has risen to 714," Saut Al-Aqsa quoted a representative of the Palestine Red Crescent Society as saying. On Monday, the radio station said that more than 200 Palestinians were wounded, while the most vicious clashes were reported in the city of Al-Khalil, Hebron Province where 13 Palestinians were injured after Israeli police used tear gas and rubber bullets.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said on Tuesday that they carried out a strike in the Gaza Strip against a Hamas group that deployed anti-tank missile launchers. "Israeli military launched a strike at the Hamas terrorist group that directed anti-tank missiles from the Gaza Strip," the army press service noted. Donia Al-Watan cited the Gaza Strip Health Ministry to say that at least 25 Palestinians died in the strikes of the Israeli army against the Palestinian enclave, adding that 107 Palestinians were injured. Nine children are among those who died. The Gaza Strip was targeted by strikes throughout the night. According to an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson, more than 200 missiles were fired at Israeli territory from the enclave, while 140 military targets were eliminated by the Israeli forces in response, neutralizing around 15 members of Hamas units and the Islamic Jihad.
At the same time, Hamas announced that it would continue opposing Israel despite the number of victims, Donia Al-Watan reported. "The resistance will continue to repel the aggression no matter how many victims there are. The hostile Israel should reconsider its calculations," a representative of the movement was quoted as saying. Hamas also added that Israel strikes "residential buildings, women and children in the Gaza Strip," therefore, the movement "will use all its power to respond to the strike with a strike." Hamas also earlier urged Palestinians in the West Bank to continue opposing the Israeli police.
In a further development, Israel will draft eight squadrons of reserve troops to ensure public order after nighttime riots in several cities that were accompanied by clashes between Palestinians and the police.
Conflict deterioration
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict aggravated in mid-April, while clashes between the Israeli border police and Palestinians broke out in two places simultaneously on May 7, the Temple Mount and the Sheikh Jarrah District, where several Arab families are being forcibly evicted which is met with local protests and fierce fighting that have been ongoing since late April.
Egypt, the country who traditionally plays a mediator role in the conflict, has already launched negotiations in an attempt to achieve a ceasefire and prevent further escalation, Al Jazeera reports. Meanwhile, the New Arab media outlet cited its sources in Egypt to claim that Hamas is refusing to engage in talks about any ceasefire until the Israeli forces comply with the "demand of the resistance" that all police forces should be withdrawn from the Al-Aqsa Mosque territory in East Jerusalem, while all those detained in the riots near the Temple Mount and in the Sheikh Jarrah District should be released.