Israeli and Palestinian supporters clashed in New York City Tuesday evening amid escalating violence between the two bitter enemies which has left at least 38 people dead in the region.
Footage taken outside the Israeli consulate in Manhattan shows protesters fighting over barricades as police struggle to keep the two groups apart. Consulate workers were sent home earlier in the day due to safety fears.
Other video shows fights breaking out in the street as punches are thrown. One man was pictured covered in blood after he was hit with a chair during bitter confrontations.
Elsewhere, demonstrations took place in Washington DC and Los Angeles as hostilities between Israel and Hamas escalated overnight. Additional protests are expected in NYC Wednesday.
Officials said overnight that 35 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and three in Israel in the most intensive aerial exchanges for years.
The White House said on Tuesday that Israel had a legitimate right to defend itself from rocket attacks but applied pressure on Israel over the treatment of Palestinians, saying Jerusalem must be a place of coexistence.
Israel carried out hundreds of air strikes in Gaza into the early hours of Wednesday local time, as the Islamist group Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups fired multiple rocket barrages at Tel Aviv and Beersheba.
One multi-story residential building in Gaza collapsed and another was heavily damaged after they were repeatedly hit by Israeli air strikes. Israel said it attacked Hamas targets, including intelligence centers and rocket launch sites.
It was the heaviest offensive between Israel and Hamas since a 2014 war in Gaza, and prompted international concern that the situation could spiral out of control.
Manhattan, New York: People attend an Emergency Rally For Palestine in Manhattan, New York on Tuesday
Manhattan, New York: Israeli and Palestinian supporters clashed in New York City Tuesday amid escalating violence between the two enemies which has left at least 38 people dead in the region
Manhattan, New York: Footage taken outside the Israeli consulate in Manhattan shows protesters fighting over barricades as police struggle to keep the two groups apart
Manhattan, New York: Consulate workers were sent home earlier in the day due to safety fears
Manhattan, New York: A man is covered in blood and led away by police after being hit with a chair by protestors as people attend an Emergency Rally For Palestine in Manhattan
U.N. Middle East peace envoy Tor Wennesland tweeted: ‘Stop the fire immediately. We’re escalating towards a full scale war. Leaders on all sides have to take the responsibility of de-escalation.
‘The cost of war in Gaza is devastating & is being paid by ordinary people. UN is working w/ all sides to restore calm. Stop the violence now,’ he wrote.
Into the early hours of Wednesday morning, Gazans reported their homes shaking and the sky lighting up with Israeli attacks, outgoing rockets and Israeli air defense missiles intercepting them.
Manhattan, New York: Elsewhere, demonstrations took place in Washington DC and Los Angeles as hostilities between Israel and Hamas escalated overnight. Additional protests are expected in NYC Wednesday
Manhattan, New York: Officials said overnight that 35 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and three in Israel in the most intensive aerial exchanges for years
Manhattan, New York: Israel carried out hundreds of air strikes in Gaza into the early hours of Wednesday local time, as the Islamist group Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups fired multiple rocket barrages at Tel Aviv and Beersheba
Israelis ran for shelters or flattened themselves on pavements in communities more than 70 km up the coast and into southern Israel amid sounds of explosions as interceptor missiles streaked into the sky.
Hamas’s armed wing said it fired 210 rockets towards Beersheba and Tel Aviv in response to the bombing of the tower buildings in Gaza City.
In Tel Aviv, air raid sirens were heard around the city. For Israel, the militants’ targeting of Tel Aviv, its commercial capital, posed a new challenge in the confrontation with the Islamist Hamas group, regarded as a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States.
The violence followed weeks of tension in Jerusalem during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, with clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters in and around Al-Aqsa Mosque, on the compound revered by Jews as Temple Mount and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.
These escalated in recent days ahead of a – now postponed – court hearing in a case that could end with Palestinian families evicted from East Jerusalem homes claimed by Jewish settlers.
There appeared no imminent end to the violence.
Manhattan, New York: One multi-story residential building in Gaza collapsed and another was heavily damaged after they were repeatedly hit by Israeli air strikes overnight Tuesday
Manhattan, New York: Israel said it attacked Hamas targets, including intelligence centers and rocket launch sites
Manhattan, New York: It was the heaviest offensive between Israel and Hamas since a 2014 war in Gaza, and prompted international concern that the situation could spiral out of control
Manhattan, New York: People attend an Emergency Rally For Palestine in Manhattan, New York on Tuesday
Manhattan, New York: Into the early hours of Wednesday morning, Gazans reported their homes shaking and the sky lighting up with Israeli attacks, outgoing rockets and Israeli air defense missiles intercepting them
Los Angeles, California: Justice for Palestine rally in Los Angeles on Tuesday
Los Angeles, California: Israelis ran for shelters or flattened themselves on pavements in communities more than 70 km up the coast and into southern Israel amid sounds of explosions as interceptor missiles streaked into the sky
Washington DC: Hamas’s armed wing said it fired 210 rockets towards Beersheba and Tel Aviv in response to the bombing of the tower buildings in Gaza City. In Tel Aviv, air raid sirens were heard around the city
Washington DC: People gather to protest attacks by Israeli police with tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades on Palestinians at Masjid al-Aqsa and show solidarity with residents of Sheikh Jarrah who have been targeted by Israeli forces, in Washington D.C
The United States was delaying U.N. Security Council efforts to issue a public statement on escalating tensions because it could be harmful to behind-the-scenes efforts to end the violence, according to diplomats and a source familiar with the U.S. strategy.
State Department spokesman Ned Price urged calm and ‘restraint on both sides’, saying: ‘The loss of life, the loss of Israeli life, the loss of Palestinian life, It’s something that we deeply regret.’
He added: ‘We are urging this message of de-escalation to see this loss of life come to an end.’
Israel said it had sent 80 jets to bomb Gaza, and dispatched infantry and armor to reinforce the tanks already gathered on the border, evoking memories of the last Israeli ground incursion into Gaza to stop rocket attacks, in 2014.
More than 2,100 Gazans were killed in the seven-week war that followed, according to the Gaza health ministry, along with 73 Israelis, and thousands of homes in Gaza were razed by Israeli forces.
Manhattan, New York: For Israel, the militants’ targeting of Tel Aviv, its commercial capital, posed a new challenge in the confrontation with the Islamist Hamas group, regarded as a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States
Manhattan, New York: The violence followed weeks of tension in Jerusalem during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, with clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters in and around Al-Aqsa Mosque, on the compound revered by Jews as Temple Mount and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary
Manhattan, New York: Violence escalated in recent days ahead of a – now postponed – court hearing in a case that could end with Palestinian families evicted from East Jerusalem homes claimed by Jewish settlers
Manhattan, New York: There appeared no imminent end to the violence in the region
Manhattan, New York: The White House said on Tuesday that Israel had a legitimate right to defend itself from rocket attacks but applied pressure on Israel over the treatment of Palestinians, saying Jerusalem must be a place of coexistence
Manhattan, New York: The United States was delaying U.N. Security Council efforts to issue a public statement on escalating tensions because it could be harmful to behind-the-scenes efforts to end the violence, according to diplomats and a source familiar with the U.S. strategy
Video footage on Tuesday showed three plumes of thick, black smoke rising from a 13-story Gaza residential and office block as it toppled over after being demolished by Israeli air strikes.
The Israeli military said the building, in Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood, housed ‘multiple’ Hamas offices, including ones for military research and development and military intelligence.
The existence of one Hamas office, used by political leaders and officials dealing with the news media, was widely known locally.
Residents in the block and the surrounding area had been warned to evacuate the area before the air strike, according to witnesses and the Israeli military.
Manhattan, New York: State Department spokesman Ned Price urged calm and ‘restraint on both sides’, saying: ‘The loss of life, the loss of Israeli life, the loss of Palestinian life, It’s something that we deeply regret.’ He added: ‘We are urging this message of de-escalation to see this loss of life come to an end’
Manhattan, New York: Israel said it had sent 80 jets to bomb Gaza, and dispatched infantry and armor to reinforce the tanks already gathered on the border, evoking memories of the last Israeli ground incursion into Gaza to stop rocket attacks, in 2014
Manhattan, New York: Supporters of Palestine, including a group of Hasidic Jewish men are seen as people attend an Emergency Rally For Palestine in Manhattan
Manhattan, New York: People attend an Emergency Rally For Palestine in Manhattan, New York Tuesday
A second residential and office building in the same neighborhood was heavily damaged in Israeli attacks shortly before 2 a.m. on Wednesday. Residents and journalists working in the building had already left.
On Tuesday Gaza health ministry officials put the death toll at 32, but a Hamas-affiliated radio station later said three more people, including a woman and a child, were killed shortly before 2 a.m. on Wednesday in an Israeli air strike on an apartment above a restaurant.
Israeli political leaders and the military said they had killed ‘dozens’ of militants, and hit buildings used by Hamas.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Israel had carried out ‘hundreds’ or strikes, and that ‘buildings will continue to crumble.’
Gaza’s health ministry said that of the 30 reported dead, 10 were children and one was a woman.