Yaser Arafat Mohamed Albanna, Cagri Kosak and Halime Afra Aksoy
16 May 2021•Update: 17 May 2021
GAZA, Palestine
Israel's ongoing airstrikes on Gaza destroyed a total of 40 streets and junctions, the Gaza Municipality said on Sunday.
The municipality said in a statement that Israel “deliberately targeted the vital streets and intersections in the city.”
According to the statement, Israel is attacking the roads that provide access to hospitals and universities. Clean water, sewage, and lighting infrastructure have also been damaged in the strikes.
Targeting the roads in Gaza worsened the humanitarian situation in the region and caused disruption in emergency aid and rescue services, it added.
Meanwhile, an Anadolu Agency correspondent in Gaza reported that Israel carried out an air raid on an empty house belonging to the Al-Batas family in Israel's Jibalia town.
A six-story building with 25 units, used as a residence in western Gaza, was also completely destroyed in the Israeli attack.
It is yet to be known whether there are casualties in these regions.
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in airstrikes since May 10, killing at least 181 Palestinians, including 31 women and 52 children, as well as injuring 1,225 more people.
Tensions spread from East Jerusalem to Gaza after Palestinian resistance groups there vowed to retaliate against recent Israeli assaults on the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood if they were not halted.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.
