Ceasefire deal ends Israeli bombing in Gaza that left 44 dead

Several of the Palestinian residents in the Palestine Tower, a residential and office building in central Gaza that was hit during one of the first Israeli air strikes on Friday, spoke to Middle East Eye about the bombing.

Khalil Kanon, who lives on the 12th floor, told MEE that the bombing left his wife and mother injured, his children in fear, and his entire family stained with blood.

Following the attack, Kanon's neighbour rushed to help, and took his children and wife out of the building while Kanon awaited paramedics to assist in removing her mother from the building.

'We are civilians. Why did they bomb us?'

- Ziyad Mezher

"All of us were stained with blood. Look, there is a blood stain on my t-shirt."

Ahmed al-Bata, a journalist, was waiting for the lift to go up to the 14th floor of the Palestine Tower - where his office is located - before the building was bombed.

"The scene was unbelievable. After some minutes, tens of residents started fleeing while shouting. Almost all of them were children and women. Tens of them were injured. The scene was so horrible. It's a crime in every sense of the word."

Um Osama Mahdi, 66, who lives on the 4th floor, was all alone when the bombardment started.

"The air was full of dust. I couldn't see anything," she said, adding that she began reciting the Islamic testimony of faith.

"I stayed in the same position for 5 minutes until my husband came and got me out of the building. My neighbour and his children were bleeding."

Ziyad Mezher, an expert in disaster risk management, said that he was preparing for a family gathering when Israel bombed the apartment building.

"I was laying on my bed. Suddenly my wife, my daughter and I found ourselves flying and falling on the ground. I crawled. We fled the place. All things were destroyed."

"Blood was everywhere," he said. "We are civilians. Why did they bomb us?"

Palestinian groups have fired rockets from Gaza at 21:00 local time towards Israeli cities as sirens were activated in Tel Aviv and southern Israel. 

Live footage from the besieged strip showed some rockets being intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome defence system. 

Gaza's military Joint Operations Room, which consists of all of Gaza's main armed factions, said in a statement that it was preparing a response to the Israeli air strikes that killed at least 10 Palestinians. 

The Qatari foreign ministry issued a statement of condemnation against Israel, saying that it denounced Israel's latest series of attacks on Gaza.

"We stress the need for the international community to move urgently to stop the occupation's repeated attacks against civilians," the foreign ministry said.

"We reaffirm our position on the justice of the Palestinian cause and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.

Gaza's military Joint Operations Room has said in a statement that it is currently assessing the situation and that the "response of the resistance is coming".

"We hold the Israeli enemy to be full[y] responsible for this aggression, and by doing this the enemy has miscalculated. We affirm that this aggression will not go unnoticed," said the Joint Operations Room, which consists of all of Gaza's main armed factions.

"We will not allow the enemy to overpower our people and it will not succeed in breaking our people's steadfastness and resistance."

Israel's Defence Minister Benny Gantz said the military will call up as many as 25,000 reservist troops as the bombing campaign in Gaza is expected to grow.

The Israeli military announced earlier that it is moving the elite Golani Brigade unit and the Armoured Corps to the Gaza border as well.

The Palestinian Authority condemned Israel's attacks on Gaza, calling on Israel to halt operations.

In a statement, the PA said it would hold Israeli forces responsible for the escalation in violence and called on the international community to pressure Israel to stop and provide protection for Palestinians.

The death toll in Israel's bombing of Gaza has risen to nine and the number of wounded has increased to 55 people.

The Israeli army said it launched a fresh round of attacks on Gaza following three air strikes early in the afternoon that killed at least eight Palestinians.

"Special forces and army artillery attacked several military points in Gaza," an army spokesperson said.

The army's chief of staff, Aviv Kochavi, said the military should go into a state of emergency.

Israel's Ben Gurion airport has begun changing flight paths amid fears that rocket attacks will be launched from Gaza.

Israeli police are also on high alert all across the country.

In response to Israel's bombardment of Gaza, a White House spokesperson said that "we firmly believe that Israel has the right to protect itself".

"Details of this event are still emerging and we are monitoring developments. We urge all sides for calm," a spokesperson for the National Security Council said.

Israel has deployed its Iron Dome missile defence system in the central part of the country, for fears that rocket fire from the Gaza Strip could reach as far as Tel Aviv.

Ziad al-Nakhalah, head of the Islamic Jihad, said there are no limits in this round of fighting and that Tel Aviv will be targeted.

"There are no red lines in this battle and Tel Aviv will fall under the rockets of resistance, as well as all Israeli cities," he said.

Israeli forces targeted an apartment building in Gaza on Friday during their latest operation on the besieged Palestinian enclave. 

Thick plumes of smoke could be seen rising into the sky following the raid.

The Israeli army has killed at least eight Palestinians, including a five-year-old child and a senior military leader, in the latest bombardment on the Gaza Strip on Friday.

Taiseer al-Jabari, the Islamic Jihad northern division leader, was killed in the air strikes that hit multiple locations in Gaza. 

At least 44 more were wounded, according to the Palestinian health ministry. 

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