Timeline: Spiraling conflict between Israel, Palestinians

A member of Israeli security forces inspects a building hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in southern Israeli city of Ashdod, on May 17, 2021. (Ilan Assayag/JINI via Xinhua)

Timeline of the current spiraling conflict between Israel and the besieged Palestinian enclave

GAZA/JERUSALEM, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Fighting between Israel and the Hamas-led militant groups in the Gaza Strip continued on Monday for the eighth day in a row as both sides kept trading artilleries and civilian casualties continued to grow.

Here is a timeline of the current spiraling conflict between Israel and the besieged Palestinian enclave:

May 17:

-- At least four Palestinians were killed and 10 others injured on Monday in a series of fresh intensive Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. Till Monday, 204 Palestinians, including 59 children and 35 women, have been killed and 1,305 others wounded in the ongoing fighting between Gaza and Israel.

-- Israel fired artillery into southern Lebanon on Monday night after six rockets were fired from Lebanon toward Israel but fell short within Lebanese territory.

-- Israel will temporarily reopen Gaza's main cargo crossing Kerem Shalom on Tuesday to allow the transfer of the humanitarian aid of gas, food and medicine to the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Palestinian children inspect the debris of houses destroyed during an Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, May 16, 2021. (Photo by Yasser Qudih/Xinhua)

May 16:

-- The death toll in the Gaza Strip climbed to nearly 200 and at least 1,225 others were injured, officials said.

-- Israel's military said on Sunday it bombed overnight the home of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza, as Hamas militants fired rocket barrages at Tel Aviv. It said in a statement that some 2,900 rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory, of which about 450 failed launches fell in the Gaza Strip and 1,150 were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome Air Defense System.

-- Israeli strikes killed at least 42 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip Sunday, the worst daily death toll yet in the almost week-long clashes, according to media reports.

May 15:

-- Violence between Hamas and Israel showed no signs of stopping, as homes and apartments in the Gaza Strip were bombed and destroyed on Saturday night after Israel slammed the region with airstrikes. Meanwhile, dozens of rockets were fired from Gaza towards central and southern Israel.

-- Israel deployed more tanks and ground forces on the borders with the Gaza Strip, after Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz ordered a redeployment of more reinforcements to the border areas.

-- Israeli war jets bombed and demolished Jala Tower, which housed offices of Al-Jazeera TV and Associated Press as well as residential apartments. Israeli military claimed that the building contained assets of Hamas intelligence agency.

Palestinian people, who fled their homes due to Israeli air and artillery strikes, take refuge at a school in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, May 17, 2021. (Photo by Khaled Omar/Xinhua)

May 14:

-- On Friday, Israel's main international airport is closed for landings amid rising tensions.

-- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on all parties to immediately cease the fighting in Gaza and Israel, said his spokesman.

-- Three rockets were fired from Syria toward northern Israel, and Israel bombarded a bank that belongs to Hamas in Gaza on Friday evening, the Israeli military and Hamas said.

May 13:

-- An 87-year-old Israeli woman died in a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip, bringing to eight the death toll of Israelis killed in the conflict.

-- The death toll of Palestinians killed in Israel's strikes on the Gaza Strip climbed to 103, included 27 children and 11 women, said the Hamas-run health ministry.

-- Three rockets were launched from Lebanon toward northern Israel on Thursday night, the Israeli army said.

May 12:

-- Two Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli soldiers in two separate incidents in the West Bank, medics said.

-- A Hamas official said that Hamas' conditions for any ceasefire with Israel are that Israel "completely stops violations against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem and the Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in Jerusalem."

May 11:

-- More than five people in central and southern Israel were killed in a Gaza rocket attack, and at least 24 people, including nine children, were killed in the Gaza Strip as Israel launched new airstrikes against the enclave, according to Israeli authorities and the Hamas-run health ministry.

-- Israeli military chief Aviv Kochavi decided to extend Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip "with no time limit" amid the tensions.

-- Barrages of rockets from Gaza hit Israel's Tel Aviv at night, Israeli security officials said.

-- Guterres voiced grave concern over the serious escalations in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel, including the latest escalation in Gaza, which added to the heightened tensions and violence in occupied East Jerusalem, said his spokesman.

A Palestinian man mourns his relatives who were killed during Israeli airstrikes at the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, May 15, 2021. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

May 10:

-- Israeli tanks struck military posts of Hamas early morning in response to rockets fired from Gaza into Israel, and hundreds of Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli police in East Jerusalem, Palestinian sources and Israeli army said.

-- Israel said it has shut down the Erez Crossing, the only pedestrian passage between the Gaza Strip and Israel, after Gaza militants fired more rockets.

-- Israel carried out airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 20 people. Rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave continued through the night.

May 9:

-- At least 10 Palestinians were injured in fresh clashes at the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound after the end of the morning prayer early Sunday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

-- Militants in the Gaza Strip fired two rockets at southern Israel at night, said Israeli military.

May 8:

-- Overnight on Saturday, at least 90 Palestinians were wounded in clashes with Israeli police near the Old City's Damascus Gate and the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, both located in East Jerusalem, according to a Red Crescent statement.

May 7:

-- A total of 205 Palestinians and 17 Israeli police officers were injured in clashes at the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound on Friday night, following a ruling that forced Palestinians to leave their homes on land claimed by Jewish settlers.

-- Elsewhere in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinians and injured a third after the three opened fire on a military base in the West Bank.

-- The Israeli military boosted its forces in the West Bank with additional combat troops and added anti-rocket Iron Dome batteries in the area near Gaza.