Rockets from Gaza batter Tel Aviv area, killing 1 and suspending air traffic
Published May 11, 2021
(JTA) — Dozens of rockets were fired Tuesday evening from Gaza in the direction of Tel Aviv and its suburbs, killing one woman and wounding several others in a further escalation of a three-day fire exchange between Israel and Hamas.
The fatality on the Israeli side was in Rishon Lezion, a southern suburb of Tel Aviv. Two people also were injured there.
Eight people were wounded in Holon, further north, and two are in critical condition, Ynet reported. Four were injured in Givataim, east of Tel Aviv.
Air traffic into and out of Ben Gurion Airport has been suspended.
In total, four Israelis have been killed by rocket fire over the past three days.
In Gaza, about 130 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes, some that razed large apartment buildings, according to the Maan Palestinian news agency.
Since Sunday, Palestinian militants have launched hundreds of rockets at Israeli cities, prompting the Israel Defense Forces to fire the retaliatory strikes.
Police have also arrested dozens of Arabs in Israel in connection with rioting in Lod, Haifa and elsewhere in the Negev region. It is the worst wave of Arab rioting in Israel since October 2000, when police killed 13 rioters in a series of clashes during the second intifada.
On Tuesday, police blocked Jews who attempted to riot against Arabs in Ramle, a city in central Israel near Lod comprised of Arabs and Jews.