Israel pounds Gaza with air raids, shelling
Death toll in Gaza rises to 119, as threat of a ground assault looms after Israel amasses tanks and troops near besieged enclave.
![Palestinian civil defense teams take part in rescue works at the rubbles of a building belonging to a Palestinian family after Israeli fighter jets conducted airstrikes in Beit Lahia, Gaza [Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu Agency]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/24536379.jpg?resize=770%2C513)
Palestinian civil defense teams take part in rescue works in the rubble of a building belonging to a Palestinian family after Israeli fighter jets conducted airstrikes in Beit Lahia, Gaza [Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu Agency]
late news: IDF announces Israeli GROUND TROOPS now ‘attacking’ Gaza Strip amid fears of imminent invasion
By Virginia Pietromarchi14 May 2021
Israel continued on Friday to bombard the Gaza Strip with air raids and artillery shells as it stepped up the deployment of troops and tanks near the besieged Palestinian enclave.
At least 119 Palestinians, including 31 children, have been killed and more than 830 wounded since hostilities flared up on Monday. Hundreds of Palestinian families have taken shelter in UN-run schools in northern Gaza to escape Israeli artillery fire.


Comment: ‘Israel’s hubris knows no bounds, it has total impunity with a continuing ‘blank check’ from the USA and now it’s legally a Jewish State any opposition is legally anti-semitic’.
- Israelis take Palestinian homes.. sparking new War “If I don’t steal your home, someone else will steal it,”
- Gaza’s death toll soars as Israel kills senior Hamas commanders
- Rising attacks in religiously ‘mixed’ Israel towns amid Gaza
Despite international calls for an immediate halt of all hostilities, including from United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged the offensive will continue “as needed to restore calm in the state of Israel”.


![An Israeli settler was captured on video in the garden of a Palestinian family's home in Sheikh Jarrah [Screen grab Tamer Maqalda/Twitter]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/1000-3.jpg?resize=770%2C513)


![Mateo Gutierrez, 24, was charged with being involved in a series of bombings in Bogotá. He spent 21 months in prison before being declared innocent and fleeing to Spain [Mauricio Morales/Al Jazeera]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/morales9-2.jpg?resize=770%2C513)
