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May 11th, 2021 
Awake Goy 
The Latest:
- Gaza death toll reaches 35, including 12 children; three Israeli casualties
- Tensions rise after Palestinian man shot dead by Israeli in the city of al-Lidd (Lod); Netanyahu government declares state of emergency in the city after day or protests
- Protests continue across East Jerusalem, West Bank over Israeli aggression at Al-Aqsa compound
– updated at 12:45 am GMT, May 12, 2021
Live Updates:
Israel destroys largest high-rise in Gaza
The Al-Jawhara Tower in Gaza City was home to a reported 160 Palestinian families and also contained the offices to over a dozen news agencies. Hamas retaliated by firing missiles toward Tel Aviv.
–updated 12:30 am GMT May 12, 2021
The State Department has released a readout form Sec. Blinken’s call with Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi:
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke today with Israel’s Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi. The Secretary expressed his concerns regarding rocket attacks on Israel and his condolences for the lives lost as a result. The Secretary and the Foreign Minister also discussed the violence in Jerusalem, in particular on the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount and in Sheikh Jarrah. The Secretary reiterated his call on all parties to deescalate tensions and bring a halt to the violence, which has claimed the lives of Israeli and Palestinian civilians, including children. The Secretary emphasized the need for Israelis and Palestinians to be able to live in safety and security, as well as enjoy equal measures of freedom, security, prosperity, and democracy. Foreign Minister Ashkenazi and Secretary Blinken acknowledged the steadfast partnership between the United States and Israel, and committed to working together on challenges ahead.
– updated at 11:50 pm GMT
“We have completely lost control of the city, and the streets are witnessing a civil war between Arabs and Jews.”
Mayor of Lod
– updated at 9:37 pm GMT
Gaza rockets hit Tel Aviv, Israeli officials hint at lengthy military campaign
Hundreds of rockets were fired from Gaza towards the Israeli city of Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening, killing at least one person and grounding flights from Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport.
The Hamas movement had vowed to launch rockets at Tel Aviv if Israel were to target residential buildings in the Gaza Strip.
Following an Israeli airstrike that leveled a 12-story apartment building in Gaza, Hamas said it fired 130 rockets at the Israeli city.
While Israel’s Iron Dome defense system has intercepted a majority of the rockets launched from Gaza, Israeli media reported that a 50-year-old woman was killed, bringing the Israeli death toll to three.
Israeli air strikes in Gaza have killed 30 Palestinians, 10 of them children, since Monday.
Israeli officials hinted at a lengthy military campaign on the Gaza Strip, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying that Hamas and Islamic Jihad will “pay a heavy price,” and that “it will take time.”
– updated 8:50 pm GMT
Solidarity protests with Palestine planned worldwide
Emergency protests are being planned worldwide in solidarity with Palestine. See this list compiled by Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and get involved. Find an event near you!
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all Palestinian, Arab and international supporters of Palestine to escalate their organizing and struggle to confront massacres and ethnic cleansing and support Palestinian resistance!
In this moment, it is particularly important to highlight our unconditional support for the Palestinian people and their right to resist. It is now and has always been the resistance of the Palestinian people, through all forms of struggle, that defends Palestine from colonization. Our solidarity must affirm Palestinian resistance, Palestinian return, and Palestinian liberation, throughout the entire land of occupied Palestine.
– updated at 6:27 pm GMT
Israeli forces flatten residential tower in Gaza City
Israeli forces destroyed the Hanadi Tower, an 11-story residential building in the center of Gaza City, where reportedly around 80 families lived. The families had been evacuated following a warning from Israel.
– updated 5:50 pm GMT
“Palestinians are departing from long illusion of Oslo” — Barghouti
Palestinian legislator Mustafa Barghouti on Al Jazeera English speaks of a new era of Palestinian resistance:
“We have found our way, the way of resistance and the way of struggle. I think we are departing now from a long, long illusion called [the] Oslo Process… I think what we have found in the people of Jerusalem is something that reminds us of the struggle of Martin Luther King in the United States for justice and freedom.”
From Phil Weiss:
At a time when Israeli violence is shattering Palestinian lives and dreams once again, an important political development is taking place in the United States. Some American leaders are not taking Israel’s side to the hilt for the simple reason that the Democratic Party base is aroused and angry over the persecution of Palestinians, and the mainstream media are reflecting that view.
The progressive base is at last making itself heard in Congress, and the White House hears the echoes. While no one should be celebrating this moment, we need to acknowledge a grassroots victory that appears to be reshaping American politics and, ultimately, policy. The era of Israeli impunity in U.S. politics appears to be coming to an end with Israel’s violent response to Palestinian protests.
– Updated 5:06 pm GMT
Thousands march in funeral for slain Palestinian in al-Lidd (Lod)
Thousands of Palestinians in the central Israeli city of al-Lidda (Lod) marched in the funeral procession of 33-year-old Musa Hassouna, who was shot and killed by an Israeli resident of the city on Monday.
Palestinians in al-Lidda had gathered on Monday to protest in solidarity with Sheikh Jarrah, and against Israeli aggressions in Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, joining thousands of other Palestinian citizens of Israel who conducted similar protests across the country.
Videos went viral of protesters climbing up light poles in the center of the city square, taking down Israeli flags and replacing them with Palestinian ones.
The killing of Hassouna sparked clashes in the city, with Palestinians setting fire to an Israeli police vehicle after the funeral procession.
– Updated 4:45 pm GMT
Two more Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza
Two more Palestinians were killed in an airstrike on Tuesday evening in Gaza, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported at 5:30pm, bringing the death toll in the besieged enclave to 28, including 10 children.
Middle East Eye reported that the victims were a husband and wife, Iyad Shayer and Layali Shayer, and that three of their children were hospitalized. The report added that the Shayer’s 4-year-old daughter was left “clinically dead” after being transferred to al-Shifa hospital after the strike.
The ministry condemned the “brutal Israeli attacks” against civilians in Gaza, adding that the airstrike targeted the area where Gaza’s COVID-19 quarantine center is located.
“This attack overwhelmed the ministry’s health system which is already exhausted by COVID-19,” the ministry said.
– Updated 4:30 pm GMT
Gaza death toll climbs as Israel steps up airstrikes; two Israelis killed by rocket fire
The death toll in the Gaza Strip reached 26, of them nine children and one woman, the Gaza Ministry of Health reported on Tuesday, following a night of Israeli airstrikes on the besieged territory.
According to the MOH, 122 Palestinians in Gaza were also injured as a result of Israel airstrikes, 41 of them children. The ministry reported that over 12 percent of all injuries were “serious.”
In one report, a Palestinian father said his two children were playing outside when Israeli forces conducted an airstrike right in front of them, killing both his children.
Meanwhile Israeli media reported that two Israelis had been killed in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon as the result of rocket fire from Gaza.
The military wing of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements have fired hundreds of rockets into Israeli territory in recent days in response to Israeli violations at the Al-Aqsa compound, which injured hundreds of Palestinian worshipers over the weekend.
Israeli forces began conducting airstrikes on Gaza on Monday, with the Israeli army claiming that it was conducting “targeted strikes” against “Hamas operatives” in the territory.
Palestinian media have reported that several Israeli airstrikes have been targeting Palestinian residential buildings.
Airstrikes continued through the night and into Tuesday morning, resulting in the assassination of at least one senior Islamic Jihad movement. Israeli forces have continued to boost their presence along the border with Gaza.
Israeli leaders vowed to amp up airstrikes following the death of the two Israeli women in Ashkelon, with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz saying “For every day that they shoot at Israeli citizens, we will send them back years.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “At the conclusion of a situational assessment, it was decided that both the might of the attacks and the frequency of the attacks will be increased.”
– Updated 3:00 pm GMT
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