Israel warns Palestinian civilians as airstrikes escalate

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Palestinian civilians yesterday to leave immediately any site where militants are operating, one day after Israel flattened a 13-storey apartment block in Gaza.

Israeli aircraft fired a non-explosive rocket at the building as a signal to residents to get out, before attacking it on Saturday.

Seventeen people were wounded in the strike on the structure, which Israel said had housed a Hamas command centre.

Israeli air-strikes also levelled a seven-floor office building and severely damaged a two-storey shopping centre in the Gaza Strip early yesterday, signalling a new escalation in seven weeks of fighting with Hamas.

The targeting of large buildings appears to be part of a new military tactic by Israel. Over the weekend, the army began warning Gaza residents in automated phone calls that it would target buildings harbouring “terrorist infrastructure” and that they should stay away.

A senior military official confirmed that Israel has a policy of striking at buildings containing Hamas operational centres or those from which military activities are launched.

The official said each strike required prior approval from military lawyers and is carried out only after the local population is warned.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there is now a widening of locations that the military can target.

Speaking ahead of Israel’s weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu warned Gaza residents to keep their distance from Hamas militants.

“I call on the people of Gaza to immediately evacuate any structure that Hamas is using to commit acts of terror,” he said. “Every one of these structures is a target for us.”

In the past, Israel has carried out pinpoint strikes, targeting apartments in high -rises with missiles, while leaving buildings standing. This time a decision was made to bring down the entire tower, according to Israeli TV station Channel 10. The military declined to comment when asked why it collapsed the entire building instead of striking a specific apartment.

Meanwhile, Gaza militants continued to fire rockets and mortar shells at Israel, including at least 10 yesterday, one of which wounded three people on the Israeli side of the main Gaza crossing, military said.

Hours after Netanyahu spoke, a cluster of 10 homes, one belonging to a Hamas member, was destroyed in an air strike in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis.