Massive Israeli shelling killed at least 50 people in the Hamas-ruled Gaza following the collapse of a 72-hour ceasefire shortly after it began on Friday, while two of its soldiers were killed and another was believed to have been abducted by Palestinian militant groups.
The humanitarian ceasefire — brokered by the US and the UN to end more than three weeks of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip — collapsed just two hours after it began on Friday morning.
At least 50 people were killed and more than 200 injured in massive Israeli artillery shelling in the southern Rafah since Friday morning, taking the Palestinian death toll to 1,509, mostly civilians, Palestinian Health Ministry said. The attacks have injured more than 7,000 Palestinians.
The 1,509 Palestinian toll in the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza surpassed that of Operation Cast lead in 2008-2009 as the conflict entered its 25th day on Friday.
According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, 1,417 Palestinians were killed during Operation Cast lead, which was the longest conflict between the two sides lasting 22 days, before the current fighting began.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah condemned the war in Gaza on Friday as a “collective massacre” and a crime against humanity, but stopped short of directly condemning Israel for its ground campaign against Hamas.