Israel bombarded Gaza with artillery and air strikes on Friday following a new barrage of rocket fire from the Hamas-run enclave, intensifying a conflict that has now claimed at least 119 Palestinian lives.
It comes as top Israeli and Palestinian diplomats to Australia told SBS News their sides are acting in "self defence", as they each accused the other of carrying out disproportionate attacks.
when, as the violence intensified, Israel said it was carrying out an attack "in the Gaza Strip".
Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, said 160 aircraft as well as artillery and armoured units, "not inside the Gaza Strip", had taken part in what he called the largest operation against a specific target since the fighting began.
He said the target was a Hamas network dug under civilian areas.
"What we were targeting is an elaborate system of tunnels that spans underneath Gaza, mostly in the north but not limited to, and is a network that the operatives of Hamas use in order to move, in order to hide, for cover," he said in a briefing to foreign reporters.
"We refer to (it) as the Metro," he said, adding that a final assessment on the outcome of the operation was pending.
The bombardment saw huge fireballs turn the night sky orange as explosions rocked the ground.
Several homes in densely populated Gaza were destroyed or heavily damaged, AFP correspondents reported, while rockets tore through the skies towards Israel.
The military escalation was triggered by weekend unrest at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, which is sacred to both Muslims and Jews.
Smoke and flames rise after an Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza strip, 14 May 2021. Source: EPA
At least 119 have been killed in Gaza, including 31 children and 19 women, and 830 others wounded in the current hostilities, Palestinian medical officials have said.
The death toll inside Israel stood at eight: a soldier patrolling the Gaza border, six Israeli civilians - including an elderly woman who fell on the way to a shelter on Friday and two children - and an Indian worker, Israeli authorities said.
An 'asymmetrical battle'
Israel's Ambassador to Australia, Jonathan Peled, said Israel is fighting an "asymmetrical battle" and is acting in self defence.
"Israel is basically trying to defend itself in front, in the wave of a barrage of hundreds, thousands of rockets ... and really fighting an entity that has no respect nor regard for human life," he told SBS News.
He said Israel "is trying to minimise, as much as possible, any harm involved".
"As a difference, we target military targets. They're targeting the centres of our populations - our schools, our hospitals - deliberately. So, this is not the same way we treat our enemies," he said.
"This is self defence. Unfortunately people get hurt but we have no other choice."
Mr Peled said there are less Israeli casualties "because we have alarms and sirens and bomb shelters, and we try to protect our civilians".
"Hamas [the Islamist group that controls Gaza] has no interest in defending or protecting the lives of its own citizens, and uses them as human shields," he said.
Australia's Palestinian Envoy, Izzat Abdulhadi, rejected this assertion, saying after recent clashes at Al-Asqa mosque, Hamas' actions are justified.
"What happened in Jerusalem, and [the] Hamas rockets, was a response actually to this aggression and assault of Israelis on Jerusalem," he told SBS News.
He said Hamas' response was also "self defence", claiming the "Israeli incursion" at Al-Asqa mosque was illegal under international law.
Mr Abdulhadi also rejected the narrative that both sides were responsible, saying "we are the occupied persons, we are not occupying Israel".
"So this kind of narrative that we are both responsible and two parties are responsible is really a false one and misleading and will not lead to resolving the problem with the Israelis," he said.
"For the time being, I think we need more interference of the international community to solve the problem, and put pressure on Israel to stop its own aggression on the Gaza Strip," he said.
Mr Peled said while he believes restraint and calm will prevail, it is important for the international community to "not forget that there are other problems that need to be resolved and paid attention to in the world".
When asked whether he was suggesting the international community is focusing too much on the conflict, Mr Peled replied: "absolutely".
"There seems to be an obsession [with] what's happening in our region," he said.
'Immediate de-escalation'
The United Nations said the Security Council would meet on Sunday to address the conflict, while the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington was "deeply concerned about the violence in the streets of Israel".
"We believe that Israelis and Palestinians deserve equal measures of freedom, security, dignity and prosperity," Mr Blinken said.
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne on Friday called for an end to the violence in Gaza as she spoke alongside her US counterpart.
"We've unequivocally called on all leaders to take immediate steps to halt violence, to maintain restraint, and to restore calm," Senator Payne said at a press briefing in Washington.
"Our strong view is that violence is no solution.
"Whether they are rocket attacks or indiscriminate attacks that fuel the cycle of violence and bloodshed, they are also never justified.
"We have urged all parties to refrain from violent or provocative acts, calling for a halt to any actions that increase tensions."
Senator Payne said Australia would play an active role if discussions were held by the United Nations.
Since Monday, Palestinian militant groups have fired more than 1,800 rockets towards Israel, mostly towards southern cities, but also at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne Source: Reuters
Hundreds have been intercepted by the Iron Dome defence system.
Israel has hit roughly 750 sites it described as military targets such as Hamas bomb-making facilities and the homes of senior militant commanders.
Three tower blocks in Gaza have been levelled.
The heavy bombardments coincided with the start of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, and saw the faithful pray at mosques and amid the rubble of Gaza's collapsed buildings.
Three rockets were also fired from southern Lebanon towards Israel, landing in the Mediterranean Sea, the Israeli army said.
A source close to Israel's arch-enemy Hezbollah said the Lebanese Shiite group had no link to the incident.
'Massive reinforcement'
With the conflict showing no signs of easing, Israel has been rocked by an unprecedented wave of mob violence, in which both Arabs and Jews have been savagely beaten and police stations attacked.
Defence Minister Benny Gantz ordered a "massive reinforcement" to suppress the internal unrest.
The disturbances, in which riot police had repeatedly clashed with Palestinians, has been driven by anger over the looming evictions of Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem.
The surging tensions sparked clashes in many of Israel's mixed towns where Jews live alongside Arabs, who make up about 20 per cent of the country's population.
More than 750 people have been arrested this week, including more than 100 overnight, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
In Lod, which has become a flashpoint of Arab-Jewish clashes this week with an Arab resident shot dead and a synagogue torched, a gunman opened fire Thursday at a group of Jews, wounding one.
Smoke rises after an Israeli strike in Al Shejaeiya neighbourhood in the east of Gaza City, on 13 May 2021. Source: AAP
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said police were increasing their use of force, warning of the "option" of deploying soldiers in towns.
He said the violence was "unacceptable".
"Nothing justifies the lynching of Arabs by Jews, and nothing justifies the lynching of Jews by Arabs," he said, adding Israel was fighting a battle "on two fronts".
Amid the rocket fire, Israel's civil aviation authority said it had diverted all incoming passenger flights headed for Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport to Ramon airport in the south.
Israeli media said the rocket missed its target, but a number of international airlines cancelled flights amid the aerial onslaught.
With AFP, Reuters
