DEATHS OF PALESTINIAN CHILDREN AN ALARMING ESCALATION Shockingly, nine Palestinian children have been killed in Israel air strikes overnight in the Gaza strip, along with 15 others. This amounts to a serious escalation, and comes just days before Eid Al Fitr. The background to the attacks on Gaza is the days-long confrontation in Jerusalem between Israeli police and Palestinians, in which more than 700 Palestinians have been hurt. There’s another backdrop to the Gaza killings: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has failed to form a coalition government, and one of his chief rivals was asked to do so. He also happens to be Israel’s defence minister, who is overseeing the Gaza assault. (COMMENT BY Omar Shariff, International Editor)
AP