Photos: Violence flares-up in Gaza as Israel and Hamas exchange fire
Hostilities between Israel and Hamas escalated on May 12, claiming at least 50 lives with 43 people in Gaza, including 13 children two Palestinians in the West Bank, and five Israelis killed in the most intensive aerial exchanges for years. Gazans' homes shook and the sky lit up from Israeli attacks, outgoing rockets and Israeli air defence missiles. Israelis ran for shelters or flattened themselves on pavements in communities more than 70 km up the coast and into southern Israel amid sounds of explosions as interceptor missiles streaked into the sky. The violence followed weeks of tension in Jerusalem during the Muslim fasting month of Ramzan, with clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters in and around Al-Aqsa Mosque. These escalated in recent days ahead of a – now postponed - court hearing in a case that could end with Palestinian families evicted from East Jerusalem homes claimed by Jewish settlers.
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A fire rages at sunrise in Khan Yunish following an Israeli airstrike on targets in the southern Gaza strip, Palestine on May 12. Israel carried out hundreds of air strikes in Gaza into the morning on May 12 as the Islamist group Hamas and other Palestinian militants fired multiple rocket barrages over the border at Tel Aviv and the southern city of Beersheba, Reuters reported.(Youssef Massoud / AFP)
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A Palestinian woman looks at heavily-damaged buildings in Gaza City on May 12. At least 43 people have been killed in Gaza, two Palestinians in the West Bank and five in Israel in the most intense exchanges for years, AFP reported.(Mohammed Abed / AFP)
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Smoke billows from an Israeli air strike on the Hanadi compound in Gaza City on May 11. In Gaza, one multi-story residential building, collapsed and another was heavily damaged after they were repeatedly hit by Israeli air strikes on May 12.(Mahmud Hams / AFP)
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A Palestinian man inspects the debris outside the heavily-damaged Al-Jawhara Tower in Gaza City on May 12. "Israel has gone crazy," one man on a Gaza street told Reuters as explosions rocked the city.(Mahmud Hams / AFP)
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