Toll rises to 558
Israel on Monday pressed ahead with its heavy bombardment of Gaza and foiled major infiltration attempts by Hamas on the 14th day of the conflict that has killed 558 Palestinians and 27 Israelis, even as the UN and the US called for an “immediate ceasefire”.
A day after Israel’s deadliest attack on Gaza in recent years killed about 150 people, more than 10 Hamas militants were shot dead on Monday after infiltrating southern Israel.
Two Hamas cells tried to infiltrate Israel to carry out an attack through tunnels from northern Gaza but they were identified by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and an aircraft was dispatched to intercept them, the army said.
“The first cell was struck from the air, and ten of its members were killed”, it said. The second squad tried to approach Niram kibbutz close to Gaza’s northeastern tip, where they were engaged in a fierce gun battle with soldiers in which they also fired anti-tank weapons. Several soldiers were wounded, the army said, without giving further details.
In the latest incident, an Israeli air strike on a home in the centre of Gaza City killed eight people, including four children, Palestinian medics said. The strike came after tank-shelling on a hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza killed five people. The deaths across Gaza on Monday pushed the Palestinian toll to at least 558 in 14 days of fighting. At least 20 bodies were found near the city of Khan Younis after an Israeli airstrike and two people were pulled alive from the rubble, a health official said, adding that over 3,100 Palestinians have been injured so far.