Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - US President Barack Obama
called for an "immediate ceasefire" between Israel and Hamas on Sunday,
after the bloodiest day of fighting in Gaza raised the number of
Palestinians killed to 476
The UN Security Council expressed
concern for the growing number of casualties in Gaza and issued a fresh
appeal for an immediate ceasefire as Israel ramped up a major military
offensive with fresh strikes Monday in the Palestinian territory.
"The
members of the Security Council express serious concern about the
growing numbers of casualties," said Rwandan Ambassador Eugene Richard
Gasana, whose country chairs the 15-member council.
The
Palestinian death toll soared to 476 after the bloodiest single day in
Gaza in five years, with a spokesman for the enclave's emergency
services saying more than a third of Sunday's 120 victims were women and
children.
The Israeli army said 13 soldiers had been killed
inside Gaza on Sunday, raising to 18 the number of soldiers killed since
the ground operation began late on Thursday.
Late Sunday, the
armed wing of Hamas claimed it had kidnapped an Israeli soldier,
prompting celebrations in the streets of Gaza City and West Bank cities.
"The
Israeli soldier Shaul Aaron is in the hands of the Qassam Brigades," a
spokesman using the nom-de-guerre Abu Obeida said in a televised
address.
Israel's UN ambassador Ron Prosor denied a soldier had been kidnapped, saying: "Those rumors are untrue."
A spokeswoman for the Israeli military said they were investigating the claim.
- Diplomatic push -
During
the urgent Security Council talks Palestinian envoy Ryad Mansour called
for decisive steps to end the violence, and voiced frustration with
what he termed the top world body's failure to take a strong stand.
"The Council failed again and again to shoulder its responsibility," Mansour told reporters.
Prosor noted Israel had agreed to earlier ceasefire offers from Egypt and was acting in self-defense.
Diplomats said no formal statement was expected to emerge from the session.
Speaking
with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by telephone early
Monday, Obama expressed his concern over the deaths on both sides, the
White House said in a statement.
In their second call in three
days, Obama "reaffirmed Israel's right to defend itself" and called for
an "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza.
US Secretary of State John Kerry
was flying to Cairo on Monday for meetings with senior officials from
Egypt and other countries.
British Prime Minister David Cameron
also spoke with Netanyahu, reiterating "the UK’s strong support for
Israel’s right to take proportionate action to defend itself from" Gaza
rockets, while expressing condolences over the Israeli deaths and
concern over the "mounting civilian casualties in Gaza."
Cameron
agreed with Netanyahu that the way out of the "spiral of violence" was
through the Egyptian ceasefire initiative, a spokesman for Cameron said.
Ceasefire
discussions between Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and Palestinian
president in Qatar were due to take place on Monday after being delayed
by a day.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon was also in Doha where he urged Israel to "exercise maximum restraint".
"Too many innocent people are dying...(and) living in constant fear," he told a news conference in Doha.
So
far, truce efforts have been rejected by Hamas which has pressed on
with its own attacks, undaunted by the Israeli bombardment by land, sea
and air.
In the early hours of Monday Israeli jets carried out
strikes throughout Gaza, including in southern Rafah and Khan Yunis and
northern Beit Lahiya.
Witnesses said warplanes had bombed the home
of Hamas politburo member Imad al-Alami in Gaza City, as well as the
Khan Yunis home of head of security and police in Gaza, General Saleh
Abu Sharekh. No injuries were reported in either attack.
On Sunday
thousands of Palestinians fled from Shejaiya, near Gaza City, Shejaiya,
after a night of heavy shelling which killed 72, an AFP correspondent
reported.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA has opened
61 of its schools to shelter more than 81,000 people who have fled their
homes.
The Doctors Without Borders charity urged Israel to "stop
bombing civilians trapped in the Gaza Strip", noting the majority of the
injured arriving in the Al-Shifa hospital were women and children.
"While
the official line is that the ground offensive is aimed at destroying
tunnels, what we see on the ground is that bombing is indiscriminate and
that those who are dying are civilians," the French NGO said in a
statement.
- Netanyahu blames Hamas -
Netanyahu has blamed the civilian casualties on Hamas using innocents "as human shields."
He insisted on Sunday that the military campaign had strong international backing.
"We
are carrying out a complex, deep, intensive activity inside the Gaza
Strip and there is world support for this... very strong support," he
said before a security cabinet meeting.
Although Israel said
earlier Sunday it was expanding its ground operation to destroy the
network of tunnels used by militants to stage cross-border attacks and
fire rockets, Netanyahu said troops could end their mission "fairly
quickly".
His Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon also suggested it
could end within days, demanding international action to "demilitarise
Gaza".
Palestinian militants have over the past 12 days fired
1,414 mortars and rockets that hit Israel, with the Iron Dome air
defence system intercepting another 377, the army said.
Thousands
participated in rallies in France, Vienna, Stockholm and Amsterdam to
oppose Israel's offensive, with a demonstration in the northern Paris
suburb of Sarcelles descending into chaos as protesters set fire to bins
and looted shops
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