CAIRO: Palestinians reported the heaviest bombardments in weeks on Monday in areas east of Gaza City, just hours after Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said he expected to complete a new expanded offensive against Hamas “fairly quickly”.An airstrike also killed six journalists including prominent Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al Sharif in a tent at Gaza City’s Al Shifa Hospital compound, the deadliest strike against journalists during an Israeli campaign that has lasted more than 22 months. Israel’s military said it targeted and killed Al Sharif, alleging he had headed a Hamas militant cell and was involved in rocket attacks on Israel. Al Jazeera, which is funded by the Qatari govt, rejected the assertion, and before his death Al Sharif had also denied such claims by Israel. Al Sharif, 28, was among a group of four journalists and an assistant who died in an airstrike on a tent near the hospital in eastern Gaza City, Gaza officials and Al Jazeera said. A hospital official said two other people died. A sixth journalist, local freelance reporter Mohammad Al-Khaldi, was also killed in the strike, medics at the hospital said on Monday.The Israeli military said in a statement that Al Sharif led a Hamas cell and “was responsible for advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians” and Israeli troops, citing intelligence and documents it said were discovered in Gaza as evidence but which it did not disclose.Hamas, the militant group which has run Gaza since 2007, linked his killing to the new planned offensive. The Hamas-run Gaza govt media office said 238 journalists have been killed in almost two years of war. The Committee to Protect Journalists said at least 186 journalists have been killed.Witnesses, meanwhile, said Israeli tanks and planes pounded Sabra, Zeitoun, and Shejaia, three eastern suburbs of Gaza City in the north of the territory, Monday, pushing many families westwards from their homes. Some Gaza City residents said it was one of the worst nights in weeks, raising fears of military preparations for a deeper offensive into their city, which Hamas says is now sheltering about 1 million people after the displacement of residents from the enclave’s northern edges.The Israeli military said its forces fired artillery at Hamas militants in the area. There was no sign on the ground of forces moving deeper into Gaza City as part of the newly approved Israeli offensive, which was not expected to begin in the coming weeks. “It sounded like the war was restarting,” said Amr Salah, 25. “Tanks fired shells at houses, and several houses were hit, and the planes carried out what we call fire rings, whereby several missiles landed on some roads in eastern Gaza,” he told Reuters via a chat app. The Israeli military said its forces on Sunday dismantled a launch site east of Gaza City, which Hamas used to fire rockets towards Israeli communities across the border.Netanyahu on Sunday said he had instructed the Israeli military to speed up its plans for the new offensive. He also indicated that the coastal area of central Gaza may be next, saying Hamas militants have been pushed there too. (This is a Reuters report)
