Israel wages onslaught against Gaza overnight

Israeli warplanes targeted 50 sites overnight in the 150km2 territory of the Gaza Strip, which is home to some 1.8 million Palestinians, wounding at least 17 and destroying five residential buildings.

Al-Quds newspaper cited witnesses who reported that the Israeli occupation forces had phoned civilians asking them to evacuate their houses within a few minutes before launching F16 rockets that turned their homes into rubble.

Five residential buildings along the Gaza Strip from the south to the north were destroyed in this way during the night, leaving more than 90 civilians homeless.

Palestinian medical sources said that at least 17 civilians were wounded by the Israeli airstrikes. The wounds ranged from light to moderate.

Late on Monday, the Israeli Security Council decided to launch what it is calling “Operation Protective Edge” against the Gaza Strip, allegedly aimed at deterring Palestinians from firing homemade rockets at the Israeli settlements around the Strip.

Israeli has waged a draconian siege of the Gaza Strip since 2006.

Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Tuesday morning that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior ministers had decided that, “Israel will act carefully, but also steadily increase military retaliation to rockets from the Gaza Strip.”

Israeli has launched two similar offensives against the Gaza Strip in the recent past.

The first was a 22-day offensive in 2008-2009 that claimed the lives of more than 1,400 Palestinians and left more than 5,000 wounded. It destroyed hundreds of residential buildings and essential public infrastructure, including police headquarters, schools and hospitals.

Another seven-day offensive in 2012 claimed the lives of more than 140 Palestinians and left more than 1,000 wounded, with dozens of houses and governmental buildings destroyed.

Palestinians in Gaza fear that this war could be similar to the previous two, since the pretext in all the wars is stopping Palestinians firing rockets from Gaza.