Israel ‘civil war’ warning amid wave of street clashes

ISRAEL’S president has warned that the country is descending into a “senseless civil war” amid a wave of street violence between Jews and Arabs, as rockets and air strikes continued to pound towns and cities.

Reuven Rivlin interrupted a TV broadcast with an appeal to “please stop the madness” as Israel was gripped by the worst communal violence in years.

“We are endangered by rockets that are being launched at our citizens and streets, and we are busying ourselves with a senseless civil war among ourselves,” the president said last night.

It came as footage showed what was described as “near-lynchings” of Jewish and Arab motorists.

In one incident broadcast live on TV, a mob was seen dragging a man they thought was an Arab from his car in a Tel Aviv suburb and beating him until he lay motionless and bloodied on the ground.

A synagogue and cars were torched in the city of Lod, motorists were stoned on some roads, and Palestinian flag-waving protesters clashed with police in northern Haifa port.

In Lod, police imposed a rare night-time curfew, but Israeli media showed young Jewish men — some with bats — on the streets.

In a video statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to grant police emergency powers to crack down on the mobs. “This

violence is not who we are,” he said. “I don’t care if your blood’s boiling.”

Amid the appeals for calm, Hamas militants fired another wave of rockets from Gaza towards Israeli cities, after air strikes killed senior Palestinian commanders and toppled a multi-storey building in the territory.

The death toll from the violence, which erupted on Monday following weeks of increasing Israeli-Palestinian tensions in Jerusalem, has risen to at least 72 in Gaza. Seven people have been killed in Israel.

Amid the escalating violence, the Israel Defence Forces said plans would be presented today for a possible ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.

The military has sent tanks and troops to the Gaza border following a warning from the UN that the aerial bombardment from both sides could lead to an “all-out war”.

A military spokesman said that Israel was in “various stages of preparing ground operations” — a move that would recall similar incursions during Israel-Gaza wars in 2008-2009 and 2014.

Health authorities in Gaza today said they were investigating the deaths of several people overnight who they said could have inhaled poisonous gas. Samples were being examined and they had yet to draw any final conclusions, the authorities said. Foreign Office minister James Cleverly this morning called on Hamas to cease firing rockets, saying: “Israel has a right to defend itself.”

Mr Cleverly described the scenes as “heart-breaking” and called on both sides to de-escalate.

He said Hamas was firing rockets “indiscriminately” but appealed to Israel to react “proportionately”.

“We have seen, however, an unprecedented level of rocket attack into Israel,” he told Sky News. “We want to see the rocket attacks stop.”

Mr Cleverly added: “As President Biden said… Israel has the right to defend itself. We’ve always said that in doing so they must seek to minimise civilian casualties.

“We should recognise that the rockets being fired from Gaza… that came before Israel’s response in terms of attacking targets in Gaza.”

Earlier, US President Joe Biden said he hoped fighting “will be closing down sooner than later”.

British Airways today cancelled its flights to and from Tel Aviv amid the escalating conflict.

“The safety and security of our colleagues and customers is always our top priority, and we continue to monitor the situation closely,” the airline said.