Mr.BaZzAr Posted May 15, 2021 Posted May 15, 2021 A US envoy has arrived in Tel Aviv for de-escalation talks as unrest between Israel and the Palestinians continues. Hady Amr will take part in talks with Israeli, Palestinian and UN officials and reinforce what US diplomats said was the need for a "sustainable calm". An Israeli air strike on a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip killed 10 people on Saturday, while a Palestinian rocket killed a man in Israel. This week's violence in Gaza and Israel is the worst since 2014. On Saturday afternoon, an Israeli air strike destroyed a high-rise building housing media organisations, including The Associated Press and Al-Jazeera, plus a number of offices and apartments. In a statement released shortly afterwards, the Israeli military said the building housed military assets belonging to Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that rules Gaza. The building's landlord has denied this. The Associated Press (AP) said the block was hit roughly an hour after Israeli forces ordered people to evacuate. The news organisation's CEO, Gary Pruitt, said: "This is an incredibly disturbing development. We narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life. A dozen AP journalists and freelancers were inside the building and thankfully we were able to evacuate them in time." At least 139 people have been killed in Gaza and nine in Israel since the fighting began on Monday, and sirens were sounding again on Saturday afternoon in Tel Aviv and elsewhere in Israel. Israel says dozens of militants are among the dead in Gaza, while Palestinian health officials say nearly half are women and children. Follow our live coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict Saturday is the day when Palestinians commemorate what they call al-Nakba, the Catastrophe. It marks the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were forced or driven from their homes in the Arab-Israeli war which began the day after Israel's declaration of independence in 1948. Mothers fear for their children Why an Israeli mayor is warning of civil war What is the latest on the fighting? Thirteen people died in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, with 10 killed by an Israeli air strike at a refugee camp west of Gaza City, Palestinian health officials said. A five-month-old baby is said to be the only survivor of that strike, found trapped in the rubble next to his dead mother. A number of people were also reported missing. Israel's Iron Dome missile shield Are you in Israel or Gaza? Get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Akram Farouq, 36, dashed out of his home in Gaza along with his family after a neighbour told him they had received a call from an Israeli officer warning their building would be hit, Reuters news agency reports. "We haven't slept all night because of the explosions, and now I am out in the street with my wife and children, who are weeping and trembling," he said. An estimated 10,000 Palestinians have left their homes in Gaza since Monday because of the conflict, according to the UN. Israeli officials reported about 200 rocket launches from Gaza overnight, with homes hit in the southern cities of Ashdod, Beersheba and Sderot.
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