As hostilities escalate between Israel and Gaza, at least 40 lives were lost on both sides in heavy aerial exchange. 

At least 35 persons were killed in Gaza and 5 in Israel as both the sides are engaged in heavy exchange of fires. 

An Indian national who was working as a caregiver has also been killed in a Hamas rocket attack at Ashkelon in Israel. 

31-year-old Soumya was killed after a rocket fell on her residence in the city of Ashkelon while she was talking to her husband Santhosh over phone. 

“My brother heard a huge sound during the video call. Suddenly the phone got disconnected. Then we immediately contacted fellow Malayalees working there. Thus we came to know about the incident,” Santhosh’s brother Saji said. 

Israel carried out hundreds of air strikes in Gaza into Wednesday morning. 

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. 

It is the heaviest offensive between Israel and Hamas since the 2014 war in Gaza. 

UN 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.”