More bombing in Gaza as Netanyahu vows Hamas will pay ‘heavy price’

Israel has launched more heavy airstrikes at Gaza as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he “wants to levy a heavy price” on the Hamas militant group

Israel has carried out further heavy airstrikes against locations in Gaza. 

The Middle Eastern country’s warplanes continued to bomb several locations in Gaza City as the Israeli leader suggested the fighting would continue at “full force”.

Explosions rocked the territory for 10 minutes early on Monday morning following the deadliest single attack in the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.

The shelling was heavier, lasted longer and hit more areas than the series of air raids on Sunday in which 42 Palestinians were killed.

This comes after Israeli air strikes have killed a string of senior Hamas military figures and pounded three multi-storey buildings in the Gaza Strip as militants launched barrages of rockets during another night of escalating violence.

In a televised address, Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s attacks would not let up and would “take time”.

Speaking alongside his defence minister and political rival Benny Gantz in a show of unity, he added that the nation “wants to levy a heavy price” on the Hamas militant group.

Meanwhile, Hamas also continued its offensive against Israel, launching rockets from civilian areas within the territory.

One missile struck a synagogue within the southern city of Ashkelon hours before evening services for the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, according to Israeli emergency services, but no injuries were reported.

It comes amid ongoing hostilities between Israel and Palestine, which has seen the worst fighting in the territory since Hamas and the Middle Eastern country’s devastating war in 2014.

“I have not seen this level of destruction through my 14 years of work,” said Samir al-Khatib, an emergency rescue official in Gaza.

“Not even in the 2014 war.”

Israeli airstrikes have levelled a number of Gaza’s tallest buildings, which the country’s government alleges contained Hamas military infrastructure.

This comes after Boris Johnson says he is urging Israel and Palestine to “step back from the brink and for both sides to show restraint” following growing violence. After Hamas fired around 130 rockets at targets in Israel after another day of intensifying conflict which saw the destruction of a tower block in Gaza in an Israeli air strike.

Among those brought down was the building housing the Gaza office of The Associated Press (AP) and those of other media outlets.

Sally Buzbee, the executive editor for AP, called for an independent investigation into the airstrike that destroyed her office on Saturday.

However, Mr Netanyahu has alleged that Hamas military intelligence was operating within the building and said on Sunday that any evidence would be shared through intelligence channels.

Neither the White House nor the US State Department would say if any had been seen.

“It’s a perfectly legitimate target,” Mr Netanyahu told CBS’s Face the Nation.

Israeli air strike on Gaza City kills 10 as unrest spreads to West Bank