Over thirty Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the Hamas strongholds in Gaza.

Retaliatory airstrikes carried out by the IDF after the Hamas rocket attacks resulted in the death of over thirty Palestinians on May 11, 2021.

Retaliatory airstrikes carried out by the IDF after the Hamas rocket attacks resulted in the death of over thirty Palestinians on May 11, 2021.The tension started on May 7, 2021, as confrontations took place between the Israeli police and Palestinian protestors. Both Israel and Palestine claim the land of Jerusalem, an important holy site for Muslims and Jews, as their capital. A skirmish broke out at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, injuring many Palestinian worshippers, and the violence escalated rapidly into aerial conflict. Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls the Gaza strip, had set a deadline for Israeli forces to withdraw from Al-Aqsa and Sheikh Jarrah.

Palestinian militants, on May 9, launched over 1,000 rockets as they targeted Ashkelon and Tel Aviv, during which six Israelis were killed and many injured. Israel launched a counterattack and bombarded the Gaza Strip, killing more than 70 people and injuring hundreds. This is the worst conflict between the two sides since the 2014 war. One of the targets bombed by Israel was a Hamas office building that collapsed after multiple missiles were fired by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) warplanes. As per reports, at least thirty-five people were killed in the building alone.

The tensions have escalated since then. There have been several rocket attacks by the Hamas and retaliatory strikes by the IDF both from air and ground. According to the local health ministry officials, as reported by the Washington Post on May 17, 2021, 212 Palestinians, including 61 children and 36 women, have died in the Israeli strikes. Meanwhile, peace talks brokered by Egypt and the United States are underway to deescalate tension between Israel and Palestine.