Israel news – live: Tel Aviv under-fire from ‘over 80 rockets’, as Gaza holds funeral for 26 dead

Israel’s transportation authority says it is closing the country’s main international airport following a barrage of rocket fire on Tel Aviv.

It said there would be no outgoing flights “to allow the defense of the country’s skies.”

FlightRadar showed that a number of planes had been held or diverted to other airports.

More than 80 projectiles were fired toward Tel Aviv from Gaza, the spokesperson for Israel’s police Mickey Rosenfeld told The Independent.

There were two hits, one hitting an empty bus in Holon and one on Rishon LeTsiyon, both south of Tel Aviv.

“Security is at the highest alert,” he said.

The Israeli city of Tel Aviv is under fire from a barrage of rockets launched from the Gaza Strip.

The outgoing volleys set off air raid sirens across the city on Tuesday night, and Israel’s anti-rocket defense systems were activated.

Hamas said it launched the rockets in response to Israel’s destruction of a high-rise building in Gaza earlier in the evening.

The sound of the outgoing rockets could be heard in Gaza.

Sirens warning of incoming rocket fire blared in Tel Aviv and central Israel on Tuesday night, Reuters witnesses said.

The sounds of multiple explosions were also heard, just minutes after Gaza militants Hamas vowed to respond to an Israeli air strike on a residential tower in the Strip earlier in the night.

Israeli airstrikes have destroyed a 12-story building in Gaza City that housed the offices of Hamas officials.

Tuesday’s airstrikes shook buildings as far as 3 kms (2 miles) away. Israeli drones fired a series of warning shots at the roof to give people time to leave the building before it was destroyed by the military.There were no immediate reports of casualties.

But the airstrike marked another escalation in Israel’s offensive against Hamas.Hamas earlier threatened to strike the Israeli metropolis of Tel Aviv if Israel continued striking buildings in Gaza.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) called on all sides in the conflict between Israel and Hamas-run Gaza on Tuesday to de-escalate the violence that has killed at least 30 people and reminded them of the rules of war.

The ICRC regional director for the Middle East, Fabrizio Carboni, said in a statement sent to Reuters that international humanitarian law prohibits indiscriminate attacks against civilians, any attack must be proportionate, and all necessary precautions must be taken to avoid civilian casualties.

He called for “rapid, safe and unimpeded movement for ambulances” and for staff and volunteers of both the Palestine Red Crescent Society and the Magen David Adom Society in Israel.

Israel’s police chief is beefing up deployments across the country in response to a wave of unrest.

Koby Shabtai issued the order on Tuesday as crowds set a police cruiser, motorcycle and bus on fire during protests in the central city of Lod.

Protests were expected in dozens of other Arab communities across the country.

In a statement, police said Shabtai instructed his commanders “to intensify police presence on the streets” following widespread unrest and protests in dozens of Arab communities across the country Monday night.

The mounting unrest came at a time of heightened tensions following weeks of violence in Jerusalem and heavy fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip in the past day.

Earlier in the day in Lod, Israeli police fired tear gas and stun grenades after mourners started throwing stones at officers during the funeral of an Arab man allegedly killed by a Jewish resident in the area.

Additional reporting by AP

The head of the Arab League condemned on Tuesday Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip as “indiscriminate and irresponsible” and said Israel had provoked an earlier increase in violence by its actions in Jerusalem.

“Israeli violations in Jerusalem, and the government’s tolerance of Jewish extremists hostile to Palestinians and Arabs, is what led to the ignition of the situation in this dangerous way,” Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in a statement.

The attacks in Gaza were a “miserable show of force at the expense of children’s blood”, he said, adding that “Israeli provocations” were an affront to Muslims on the eve of the Eid holiday at the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Arab League foreign ministers held a virtual emergency meeting on Tuesday to discuss the situation in Jerusalem.

Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has in the last few minutes tweeted that the commander of the Hamas anti-tank missile unit, Iyad Fathi Faik Sharir is dead.

The social media posting adds that he was “in charge of carrying out anti-tank missile attacks on Israel.”

In the tweet it also confirmed the IDF is still striking additional targets in Gaza.

The head of the Norwegian Refugee Council has urged both Israel and the Palestinians “to avoid further escalation and prevent loss of life,” saying that civilians, and specifically children, pay “the heaviest price”.

The organisation’s chief, Jan Egeland, said on Tuesday that civilians “once again” were “bearing the brunt of a dramatic escalation in hostilities.”

He added that children, whether they are Palestinian or Israeli, are left with “not only physically scarred but also emotionally damaged.”

The Oslo-based group called on “all parties to the conflict to stop the provocations and to ensure that civilians are protected.”

Egeland said in a statement that the latest events “also shows that the prolonged conflict and occupation are unsustainable.”