Israel resumes air strikes on Gaza
Israeli air strikes pounded Gaza Sunday, killing at least 16
people, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the bloody offensive
would continue as long as necessary, reports AFP.
A later strike on northern Gaza killed a mother and four children from
the same family, medics said, as the day's death toll reached at least 16,
including six children.
"Operation Protective Edge will continue until its aims
are achieved... it may take time," Netanyahu said of the offensive
launched on July 8.
The Israeli ambulance service said that three people were
wounded by Palestinian fire at the Erez crossing point between Israel and Gaza ,
at least one of them seriously.
Police identified the injured as Arab public transport
drivers waiting in the crossing's car park.
- PM warns Lebanon ,
Syria
-
At a special cabinet session at the defence ministry in Tel
Aviv, Netanyahu repeated his warning of harsh retribution for the death of a
four-year-old Israeli child on Friday in a rocket strike on a kibbutz near the Gaza border.
"Hamas is paying, and will continue to pay, a heavy
price for the crimes it carries out," he said.
"I call on residents of Gaza to immediately leave any structure from
which Hamas carries out terror activity against us. All such sites are a target
for us."
Hamas dismissed Netanyahu's warnings to civilians as a sign
of weakness.
"The occupation (Israel ) has failed in confronting
the resistance (Hamas) in the field, and has resorted to threats of
assassination and other threats designed to scare us. But the will of our
people will not be broken," spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement.
Netanyahu also added a veiled warning to neighbouring Lebanon and Syria
after overnight rocket fire into Israel .
Earlier on Sunday, five rockets fired from Syrian-controlled
territory slammed into the Israeli-occupied sector of the Golan
Heights but caused no casualties, the Israeli army said.
Late Saturday, a rocket fired from Lebanon struck northern Israel , causing
damage but no casualties.
- Egypt
truce talks bid -
In a statement on Saturday, the Egyptian foreign ministry
urged "concerned parties" in the Gaza
conflict to accept an open-ended truce and resume indirect negotiations in Cairo .
But there was still no sign of either side adopting the
ceasefire.
Since a previous round of frantic Egyptian diplomacy
collapsed on Tuesday, shattering nine days of calm, around 100 Palestinians and
the Israeli boy have been killed in the violence.
Previous ceasefires with fixed timeframes have failed to
give Egyptian mediators shuttling between Israeli and Palestinian negotiating
teams enough time to broker a deal acceptable to both.
Hamas, Gaza 's Islamist de
facto ruler, says any truce must provide for a lifting of Israel 's
crippling eight-year blockade of the territory and the opening of a seaport and
airport.
The invitation to new truce talks came after a meeting on
Saturday between Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Palestinian president
Mahmud Abbas.
"What interests us now is putting a stop to the
bloodshed," Abbas said.
"As soon as a ceasefire goes into effect, the two sides
can sit down and discuss their demands," he said, adding that, as in
previous rounds of talks, Hamas would be represented in the Palestinian
delegation.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP that "any
proposal offered to the movement will be discussed".
At least than 2,120 Palestinians and 68 people on the
Israeli side, all but four of them soldiers, have been killed since July 8.
The United Nations says 70 percent of the Palestinian
victims were civilians, and that among the dead were 478 children.
Around 460,000 people have fled their homes in
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