Israel Bombs Site West of Gaza City as UN Envoy Warns of ‘Unbearable’ Conditions

Multiple eyewitnesses reported an Israeli strike on a site west of Gaza City early on Friday, August 28, shortly before the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov warned of “unbearable” conditions in the enclave. The strike was the latest in a series on the Gaza Strip, which Israel said was a response to the launch of rockets and incendiary balloons. Six rockets were launched at Israel early on Friday morning, according to the IDF. Hamas’s military wing said the rockets were a response to the “escalation and aggression of the occupation on Gaza.” Conditions in the Gaza Strip have been deteriorating rapidly in recent weeks, with its sole power plant forced to shut down on August 18 because of a lack of fuel and the first community-spread cases of COVID-19 being reported in recent days. After the latest exchange of fire, Mladenov tweeted: “The situation in and around Gaza is rapidly deteriorating. Militants continue to launch projectiles and incendiary devices. The tightening of closures is making life inside the Strip unbearable. Electricity is down to 3 hours, hospitals barely functioning.” He called for the resumption of fuel deliveries and for Palestinian militants to cease the launch of rockets and incendiary devices. “Under the current circumstances no mediation efforts to prevent escalation and improve the situation can succeed,” he concluded. Credit: Shady Salfity via Storyful