Rocket attacks on Israel continue into the night, even after the Israel Defense Forces launched airstrikes and tank bombardments against Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in the Gaza Strip.

Israel says over 430 rockets have been launched by Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Sirens were ringing most of Saturday and through the early hours of Sunday in Eshkol, Ashkelon and other cities in proximity of the Gaza Strip.

One man was reported killed in Ashkelon when a rocket hit his home, and nine people were wounded.

Several hours earlier, sirens wailed and a rocket barrage rained down on the city of Be’er Sheva. The largest city in southern Israel, Be’er Sheva is usually out of range of all but Hamas’ longest-range projectiles.

Many of the rockets launched were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system. Shortly before Be’er Sheva was targeted, interceptions were observed over Ashdod, less than 30km up the coast from the border with Gaza.

Amid the ongoing standoff, the Islamic Jihad released a video vowing to strike nuclear research facility in Dimona and other strategic sites, including Ben-Gurion International Airport. Footage showed militants loading rockets into a launcher, followed by a list of targets which also included Ashdod port and refineries in Haifa. Hamas also noted that the “next step is to blow up Tel Aviv.”

Palestinian death toll higher

Israel pinned responsibility for the attacks on Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant groups, and launched airstrikes in response.

Israeli planes continued their raids into the Gaza Strip overnight, targeting various buildings, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Israeli tanks also pounded targets in Gaza, with the IDF claiming to have successfully hit Hamas weapons factories and intelligence headquarters, and destroyed Islamic Jihad “terror tunnels” used by terrorists to sneak into Israel.

The Israeli strikes claimed at least three Palestinian lives, including a 14-month-old baby and her pregnant mother, according to the Gaza health ministry. A 22-year-old man was also killed, although it is unclear whether he was a civilian or a Hamas operative.

At least eight Palestinians have died since tensions escalated on Friday, Palestinian News agency Wafa said, and at least 30 civilians sustained injuries. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the Israeli aggression on Gaza, noting that “the silence on Israel’s crimes and violations of international law encourages it to continue its crimes against the Palestinian people.”

Meanwhile, Gaza’s Health Minister Mai al-Kaila, called on the international community to urgently intervene and hold Israel responsible for “crimes” against the Palestinians. She also said that hospitals in Gaza are in urgent need of medicine and other supplies.

On the Israeli side of the border, an 80-year-old woman was severely wounded in a Palestinian rocket strike on the city of Kiryat Gat, and remains in “serious condition.” Another 49-year-old man in Ashkelon was moderately wounded, while a 15-year-old boy who failed to find cover in time managed to escape with mild injuries.

Violence resumed in Gaza this week after militants fired a rocket into Israel on Tuesday. Two Israeli troops patrolling near the Gaza border were then shot, triggering retaliatory IDF airstrikes. As the fighting escalated, Hamas promised a tit-for-tat response.

Subscribe to RT newsletter to get stories the mainstream media won’t tell you.

Over a dozen Palestinians and four Israelis have been killed as well as scores injured on both sides in an ongoing spate of violence that saw hundreds of rockets launched by Gaza militants and massive air strikes by Israel.

At least 18 people were killed in Sunday’s Israeli assault on Gaza, the Gaza Health Ministry said, adding that dozens more have been injured. A pregnant woman and her 14-month-old baby were among those killed.

Israel said it killed at least eight Palestinian militants, claiming it struck 320 militant targets in the strip, including tunnels, arms workshops and depots. It blamed the deaths of a Palestinian woman and her daughter on a faulty rocket launch by the militants.

It also claimed that a Palestinian man killed in the Gaza Strip on Sunday was a Hamas commander. Ahmed Abed Khudri, whose car was hit by an Israeli air strike, allegedly helped transfer funds from Iran to armed factions in Gaza.

Meanwhile, the Hamas militant group that controls the Gaza Strip as well as another extremist organization called the Islamic Jihad fired as many as 600 rockets and mortar shells targeting the Israeli territory. At least four people in Israel were killed and at least 10 injured by shrapnel from rockets, missiles and mortar shells from the Gaza Strip.

One man was critically injured and later died from his wounds on Sunday after a rocket struck a factory in the southern city of Ashkelon, 50km south of Tel Aviv. Another man in Ashkelon died after his car was directly hit by a rocket.

The IDF also said that the militants hit a civilian van with an anti-tank missile near Kibbutz Erez, critically injuring the driver, who later died from his injuries. The Palestinian militants claimed it was a military vehicle transporting soldiers that they struck.

Both sides also said that many civilians were injured during the recent developments.The Israeli retaliation air strikes resulted in 125 Palestinians suffering various injuries, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

The mediation efforts taken by the UN and Egypt have yielded no results so far as none of the sides appeared to be ready to stop the violence. On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue striking Gaza with “massive airstrikes” in response to the militants’ rocket launches.

Like this story?

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned Israel for hitting the office of Anadolu Agency during its airstrikes in Gaza, saying that it won’t prevent Turkey from reporting on atrocities committed by the Jewish state.

“Turkey and the Anadolu Agency will continue to tell the world about Israeli terrorism and atrocities in Gaza and other parts of Palestine, despite such attacks,” Erdogan vowed on Twitter.

The Turkish news agency shared a video on Saturday, purportedly showing rescuers combing through the rubble of the ruined building which had hosted its bureau.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu described the alleged attack as a “new example of Israel’s unrestrained aggression.”

The ministry called on the international community to “to act swiftly in order to reduce the tension in the region with Israel’s disproportionate actions.”

Think your friends would be interested?

Statues made of high-quality limestone, picturesque wooden masks and intact colorful sarcophagi have been found at a newly-discovered burial site near the pyramids at Giza. Researchers have said the find dates back to 2,500 BC.

One of the oldest tombs contains the remains of two men who lived during the so-called Old Kingdom or the age of the pyramid builders.

“The two false doors that we found inside are really in a very good quality of limestone. To get a very good quality of limestone that came from Tora, you need to get permission from the King himself, and I believe that those guys even got very good titles to be able to ask the King for this good quality limestone,” said Mostafa Waziri, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.

According to the inscriptions inside the tombs one of the men was called Behnui-Ka. He was a priest and judge who served under several kings including Khafre, the pharaoh who ordered the construction of one of the Giza Pyramids. The other was Nwi, whose titles included “chief of the great state,” “the overseer of the new settlements” and “the purifier of King Khafre.”
Archaeologists believe that their mummified remains may be found in the sarcophagi, and suggest that some statues and masks depict them and their family members.

Like this story?

Three days after clashing with police at May Day demonstrations, Yellow Vests protesters marched in Paris and across France, in the 25th straight weekend of anti-government anger.

According to the Interior Ministry, 18,900 demonstrators took to the streets on Saturday, the lowest turnout since the movement began as a protest against a planned fuel tax hike in November. However, the Yellow Vests have regularly disputed the figures released by the ministry, accusing officials of downplaying the scale of the protests.

In Paris, protesters demanded the resignation of Interior Minister Christophe Castaner. Castaner had accused Yellow Vests protesters of staging an “attack” on a hospital in the city during Wednesday’s May Day protests. Social media footage told a different story, with the protesters seeking refuge in the hospital to avoid police batons and tear gas.

Droves of protesters beat drums and chanted “Liar Castaner.”

Protesters in Toulouse also jeered at Castaner and demanded his resignation. The march in Toulouse quickly became violent, however, and clashes broke out between the Yellow Vests and police. Tear gas was deployed, and riot police at one point violently charged protesters.

Tear gas was also used by police in La Roche-sur-Yon, while protesters in Lyon joined a more peaceful youth march against global warming.

Although turnout on the streets was lower than on previous weekends, many Yellow Vests have not been pacified by President Macron’s promise of tax breaks, with one dismissing the president’s offering as “rubbish” last week.

In the wake of Castaner’s hospital “attack” claim, 1,400 French artists, celebrities and creatives –including movie stars Juliette Binoche and Emmanuelle Beart– signed an open letter of support for the Yellow Vests, printed in left-wing newspaper Libération on Saturday. In it, they slammed the French government and media for attempting to “discredit” the “citizens’ movement.”

Subscribe to RT newsletter to get stories the mainstream media won’t tell you.