Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday blasted his successor, saying President Joe Biden’s ‘weakness’ standing up for Israel is “fueling” violence in the Middle East.
“When I was in office we were known as the Peace Presidency because Israel’s adversaries knew that the United States stood strongly with Israel and there would be swift retribution if Israel was attacked,” Trump said in a statement. “Under Biden, the world is getting more violent and more unstable because Biden’s weakness and lack of support for Israel is leading to new attacks on our allies.”
An Israeli air strike in Gaza Tuesday night and a retaliatory Palestinian rocket strike into Tel Aviv saw a 13-story residential building on the Gaza strip collapse and three Israelis wounded, Reuters reported.
According to the report, the building in Gaza housed an office used by political leaders of Hamas, the Islamic rulers of the region.
Videos taken shortly after the Israeli air strikes showed plumes of smoke rising from the building and the upper floors still intact as the structure collapsed.
Israel sent tanks to the border and 80 jets to bomb Gaza in retaliation for earlier rocket strikes against Tel Aviv and its suburbs the day before.
In Israeli city, air raid sirens blared and the skies around the city lit up with the trails of interceptor missiles launched to take out incoming rockets, the report said.
In both locations, bystanders ran for cover, some laying flat on the pavement during the attacks.
Israeli television reported three people were wounded in Holon, a suburb of Tel Aviv.
“We are now carrying out our promise,” Hamas’ armed wing said in a statement reported by Reuters. “The Qassam Brigades are launching their biggest rocket strike against Tel Aviv and its suburbs, with 130 rockets, in response to the enemy’s targeting of residential towers.”
According to the report, 28 Palestinians and two Israelis have died since the violence erupted.
The worst violence in the region since 2019 began Monday with Israeli police and Palestinians clashing at Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa Mosque.
Israel’s capital city is sacred to Jews, Christians, and Muslims, especially during the month of Ramadan.
Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu said the Jewish state would increase its strikes in Gaza to respond to rocket attacks into Israel.
“Both the strength of the attacks and the frequency of the attacks will be increased,” he said in a video statement.
Meanwhile the United States State Department was urging both sides to show restraint, the report said.
Trump said in his statement that America must “always” stand with Israel and demand the Palestinians stop the “violence, terror, and rocket attacks.”
“(America must) make clear that the U.S. will always strongly support Israel’s right to defend itself,” the former president’s statement said. “Unbelievably, Democrats also continue to stand by crazed anti-American Rep. Ilhan Omar, and others, who savagely attack Israel while they are under terrorist assault.”
Source: Newmax
