News Article 1 (The New York Times, 2021)
Israel carried out its deadliest strike yet, as the fighting raged on
The violence showed no sign of abating on Sunday, as Israel made the single deadliest airstrike yet on Gaza in the weeklong bombing campaign, and the number of rockets fired at Israel from Gaza topped 3,000 (1/1/1).
The Israeli bombing in Gaza City killed at least 33 people, including 12 women and eight children, and wounded 50 others, according to Palestinian health authorities. (1/2/1) They said the toll was likely to climb as rescuers picked through the rubble searching for victims and survivors. (1/2/2)
Israel’s military acknowledged civilian deaths in the strike. (1/3/1)
An Israeli aircraft “struck underground military infrastructure belonging to Hamas terror organization which was located under the road in the relevant area,” an Israeli Defense Forces spokesman said. (1/4/1)
“The underground military facility collapsed, causing the foundations of the civilian house above to collapse as well, causing unintentional casualties. The aim of the I.D.F. strike was military infrastructure.” (1/4/2)
In a separate strike, the Israeli military said it had bombed the home of Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, in the southern town of Khan Younis. (1/5/1)
It released a video of the bombing.
At least 197 people — most of them civilians, including 58 children — have been killed by Israeli planes, drones and artillery since the campaign began on Monday, Palestinian officials said. (1/6/1)
Israel says it has killed 75 Palestinian militants, primarily Hamas operatives, and accuses the group of using civilians as human shields. (1/7/1)
In airstrikes that claimed civilian casualties, Israel has often described the targets as weapons caches or militant operations centers. (1/7/2)
In Israel, at least 10 people have been killed by Hamas rockets, Israeli authorities say. (1/8/1) Israeli forces have hit more than 1,500 targets, causing serious damage to Hamas infrastructure, including the network of tunnels it uses to move people and weapons, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials said at a press briefing after a meeting of the security cabinet. (1/9/1)
“Hamas’s underground has gone down the drain,” he said (1/10/1). “The metro has turned from a strategic asset to a death trap for the terrorists.” (1/10/2)
He described Israeli forces as “doing everything we can to minimize as much as possible any harm to civilians.” (1/11/1)
The Israeli Defense Forces said on Sunday that 3,100 rockets had been fired from Gaza since Monday, including more than 400 that misfired, failing to reach Israel and landing in Gaza.
(1/12/1)
That is far more rockets shot at Israel than in any week of previous conflicts, and some of them have greater range than Hamas’ arsenal has demonstrated in the past. (1/12/2)
Israeli officials have admitted to being surprised by the reach and intensity of the barrage.
(1/13/1)
Hamas, which has had help from Iran in building increasingly sophisticated rockets, claimed this week that some had a range of 155 miles, far enough to reach any point in Israel. (1/13/2) Israel has intercepted about 1,100 rockets, military officials said on Sunday. (1/14/1) The Israeli military said on Sunday that it had destroyed several underwater drones, unmanned submarines operated by Hamas, at their base on the Mediterranean coast. (1/15/1) The drones, armed with explosives, were intended for use against offshore gas drilling rigs, according to Israeli officials. (1/15/2)
News Article 2 (The New York Times, 2021)
Israel’s attack on a press building in Gaza draws condemnations
The prominent 12-story building in Gaza City that was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike on Saturday not only housed the offices of media organizations including The Associated Press and Al Jazeera. (2/1/1)
It also offered a vantage point for the world on Gaza, as A.P. cameras positioned on the roof terrace captured Israeli bombardments and Palestinian militants’ rocket attacks during periodic flare-ups in fighting — including over the past week. (2/2/1)
“The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what transpired today,” the A.P.’s president, Gary Pruitt, said in a statement following the Israeli attack.
The leveling of the al-Jalaa tower, which occurred as fighting between Israelis and
Palestinians spiraled on several fronts, drew condemnations from across the world. (2/4/1) The Israel Defense Forces said that its fighter jets struck the tower because it also
contained military assets belonging to Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that rules the Gaza Strip. (2/4/2)
No casualties were reported from the strike.
Mr. Pruitt called on the I.D.F. to present evidence to support its allegation, adding that the news agency had operated from the building for 15 years. (2/6/1)
“We have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building,” he said.
“This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.”
On Sunday, the I.D.F. tweeted that the building was “an important base of operations” for Hamas military intelligence, where it “gathered intel for attacks against Israel,
manufactured weapons & positioned equipment to hamper I.D.F. operations.” (2/8/1) The I.D.F. — which frequently accuses Hamas of using civilians as shields — provided advance warning to civilians in the building to allow evacuation. (2/9/1)
The A.P. reported that the owner of the building, Jawad Mahdi, was “told he had an hour
In the minutes before the airstrike, Mr. Mahdi was filmed desperately pleading with the Israeli Army, asking them to allow four journalists who had been filming an interview — with the father of four children slain in an Israeli strike on a refugee camp on Saturday morning — an extra 10 minutes to retrieve their belongings. (2/10/1)
An Israeli soldier told him: “There will be no 10 minutes.” (2/11/1)
Minutes later, the building was destroyed, engulfed in a plume of black smoke.
The A.P. said that it “narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life,” and that a dozen journalists and freelancers inside the building evacuated before the strike. The building also housed apartments on the lower floors.
Press freedom groups said that the strike — coming a day after the Israeli Army
erroneously told foreign media that ground troops had entered Gaza — raised concerns that Israel was interfering with independent reporting on the conflict. (2/14/1)
In a statement, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists questioned whether the I.D.F. was “deliberately targeting media facilities in order to disrupt coverage of the human suffering in Gaza.” (2/14/2)
A White House spokeswoman, Jennifer Psaki, tweeted that the United States had
“communicated directly to the Israelis that ensuring the safety and security of journalists and independent media is a paramount responsibility.” (2/15/1)
United Nations Secretary- General Antonio Guterres said that he was “deeply disturbed”
by the strike and warned that “indiscriminate targeting of civilian and media structures”
would violate international law. (2/15/2)
After the strike, journalists from other news organizations gathered near the rubble. Heba Akila, an Al Jazeera journalist who had been broadcasting from the tower when the warning call was made, said: “This is clearly to silence the truth and the voices of journalists.” (2/16/1)
News Article 3 (The New York Times, 2021)
The Toll of Eight Days of Conflict in Gaza and Israel
A week of fighting has left more than 200 people dead in Israel and the occupied territories, the vast majority of them Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip. (3/1/1)
The violence has intensified over the past eight days as diplomatic efforts have stalled and Israel has scaled up its bombing campaign against Hamas.
The war is being fought on multiple fronts. (3/3/1)
According to the Israeli Air Force, Hamas, the militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, has fired more than 3,300 rockets toward Israeli cities and towns, killing at least 10 people.
(3/3/2)
Israeli forces and settlers have killed 20 Palestinians during unrest in the West Bank, a Palestinian human rights group said. (3/3/3)
And a wave of mob attacks hit at least one mixed Arab-Jewish city in Israel.
But the worst devastation is in Gaza, a densely packed coastal enclave of about two million people. (3/4/1)
Israeli forces have struck homes, refugee camps, medical facilities and other buildings.
(3/4/2)
Israeli officials have said the assault is aimed at destroying Hamas's ability to make and launch missiles and a network of underground tunnels used by Hamas to move people and equipment. (3/5/1)
But the strikes have killed at least 212 people, including at least 61 children, according to local health authorities, drawing international condemnation. (3/5/2)
On Saturday, an Israeli airstrike destroyed a well-known tower that housed some of the world’s leading news media organizations, including The Associated Press and Al Jazeera. (3/6/1)
The strikes have destroyed 132 buildings in Gaza and left 2,500 people homeless, according to Palestinian officials. (3/6/2)
The conflict exploded into daily bouts of violence on May 10, after the Israeli police said they raided the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, one of Islam’s holiest sites, to stop what they said were protesters throwing stones. (3/7/1)
Gaza militants fired rockets toward Jerusalem. (3/7/2) Eight days of violence (3/8/1)
(3/9/1)
Day 1 May 10
Israeli airstrikes began Monday after militants fired a salvo of rockets toward Jerusalem.
28 killed in Gaza 3 killed in Israel (3/10/1)
Day 2 May 11
By Tuesday night, more than 30 Palestinians had been killed, including 10 children.
4 killed in Gaza 1 killed in Israel (3/11/1)
Day 3 May 12
Waves of mob violence between Jews and Arabs spread across Israeli cities as rockets and missiles streaked overhead.
21 killed in Gaza 4 killed in Israel (3/12/1)
Day 4 May 13
Israel intensified its campaign of airstrikes against Hamas, pulverizing buildings, offices and homes.
34 killed in Gaza 2 killed in Israel (3/13/1)
Day 5 May 14
Violence erupted in several places on the West Bank, as Israeli soldiers fired on demonstrators, some of whom threw stones and lit fires.
39 killed in Gaza 0 killed in Israel