Gaza

The death toll in Palestine due to Israeli airstrikes has reached 188 as the conflict entered its seventh day on Sunday. Among those killed were 55 children, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

Another 1,230 Palestinians were wounded in the Israeli attacks, reported The Times of Israel citing the ministry. According to the Israeli military, most of those killed in Gaza since the start of the current round of violence were either members of terror groups or were killed by errant Palestinian rockets.

On the other hand, more than 2,500 rockets have been fired from Gaza towards Israel since Monday, killing 10 people in the Jewish nation, including an Indian national, The Times of Israel reported citing the country's military.

This comes as Israel launched the latest round of airstrikes on Gaza earlier today, which have killed 33 Palestinians including two toddlers, while numerous buildings were destroyed. Palestinian doctor Ahmad Abu al-Aouf, who served as director of internal medicine at Gaza's al-Shifa Hospital, was reportedly killed in the bombing.

Israeli officials have, however, indicated that a ceasefire could be coming after mounting pressure from US President Joe Biden and other American lawmakers following the recent airstrikes on Gaza that have killed over 20 Palestinians and destroyed several buildings, reported The Times of Israel.

Senior Israeli officials told local media, ahead of a security cabinet meeting today, that calls for de-escalation are being heard and the Jewish country will move towards a ceasefire now that a number of military objectives have been accomplished against Hamas, as well as in response to the mounting international pressure.

The situation on the border between Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip has been deteriorating for the last week. Earlier this month, the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict started when the unrest began in East Jerusalem over an Israeli court's decision to evict several Palestinian families from the area.

A day before, Israeli warplanes on Saturday destroyed a building in Gaza City with offices of various media groups, including Al Jazeera and the American Associated Press. Al-Jala Tower is the fourth multi-storey building targeted by Israeli warplanes since Monday, reported Anadolu News Agency.

The offices of Mayadeen Company for media services, radio station of Voice of Prisoners, and Doha Media Center were among the media offices destroyed by the shelling.

Meanwhile, the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) started an emergency meeting on Sunday over the heavy fighting.

A tweet from the official OIC Twitter handle read:

#OIC holds emergency meeting today in Jeddah to discuss Israeli aggression in Al-Aqsa. The opening session of the meeting could be watched live now on the OIC website https://t.co/sexq8a1JZr. #AlAqsaMosque #FreePalastine #Palestine pic.twitter.com/6DUjZd5M7c

— OIC (@OIC_OCI) May 16, 2021