31 killed
Intensifying its offensive, Israeli jets hit more than 780 targets in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip by third day of conflict on Thursday killing at least 31 more people, as the Palestinian militants fired rockets at new targets such as Dimona nuclear reactor in the Jewish State.
At least 31 people were killed on Thursday in the fresh Israeli air offensive on the Gaza Strip, taking the death toll to 82.
Nine Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike while they were watching the World Cup semifinal match between Argentina and the Netherlands at a cafe. Three others died in another Israeli strike on a car in western Gaza City.
Eight members of a same family were killed in an air raid on a house near the southern town of Khan Yunis early Thursday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
Gaza medical officials said half of the total casualties since the Israeli military launched an operation against Hamas militants on Monday were civilians, including children and women in the deadliest conflict in the region since 2012.
There have been no Israeli deaths so far.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on both sides to agree to a cease-fire, saying “Gaza is on a knife edge.”
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out a ceasefire, saying it was “not even on the agenda”.
“I am not talking to anybody about a cease-fire right now,” Ha’aretz quoted Netanyahu as saying at a meeting of the influential Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee.
Netanyahu also turned down a proposal to cut the water and electricity supply from Israel into the Gaza Strip, saying “legal advisers will not allow that.”
“We can’t do what the Russians did to the Chechens,” he stressed.
Despite the deaths, the Israeli military would continue to bomb the homes of senior Hamas operatives, even though the air force realises that sometimes residents of a targeted building try to prevent the bombings by standing on the roof as human shields, a high-ranking IDF officer said.
“We will take down those houses,” he reportedly said.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said three rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip towards the southern Israeli town of Dimona and its nuclear reactor on Wednesday.
It said one of the rockets was intercepted by Iron Dome anti-missile shield, and two others fell in open areas, without causing damage or injuries.
An Israeli military spokesman said the deaths at the house in Khan Yunis were “a tragedy — not what we intended”, as people had returned to the building too soon following a telephone warning.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said the home was the residence of Odeh Kaware, Hamas’ Khan Younis company commander, and served as his headquarters.