Artillery shell hits hospital in Gaza killing 4

A shell fired by a tank has impacted on Monday on the third floor of the Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, where the Intensive Care Unit and several operating rooms were located. The explosion has left at least four dead and 16 wounded, including medical staff, according to the Health Ministry spokesman quoted by Reuters. The Army, for the moment, has not said anything about it. Israel has accused Hamas militias in the past to launch rockets from Gazan territory to hospitals and refugee centers.

International pressure to cease hostilities in the Gaza Strip has increased in the past hours. Both the Security Council of the UN as the U.S. president, Barack Obama, have expressed concern about the high number of victims, which on Monday exceeded five hundred – and called on both parties to reach a truce. Obama said by telephone to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the need for an ” immediate ceasefire ” and the right of Israel to defend itself. So did the British Prime Minister David Cameron, who also showed concern for the victims, according to a spokesman for Downing Street.

The Security Council has this morning called for “an immediate ceasefire ” in Gaza and expressed “grave concern ” at the escalation of violence in Gaza. This was stated by the current President of the Security Council, the Rwanda Eugene Gasana, after a meeting about two hours to discuss the situation. “The members of the Security Council expressed serious concern at the escalation of violence related to Gaza.” The UN also calls for “respect for international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians.”

Palestinians killed since the Israeli offensive began Margin Protector last July 8 and exceed five hundred. 509 people, almost half of them women, children and elderly people have been killed and over 3,000 were injured due to Israeli bombardment by land, sea and air. Some 81,000 people seeking refuge in schools UNRWA (the UN agency for Palestinian refugees), according to the multinational organization itself which has enabled 67 schools to accommodate those fleeing their homes.

There are already 20 -18 Israeli soldiers and two civilians, have died in this military operation, the third since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007. Was first offensive Cast Lead (2008) in which 1,400 Palestinians killed and the second, Pilar Defensive (2012), in which 160 died.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said that the operation will not end till the Army reaches its end, according to the Israeli daily Haaretz.

Israeli Security Forces also claim to have killed 10 militants who had infiltrated a kibbutz – Israeli agricultural community in southern Israel through tunnels. Precisely these pathways is that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed to demolish part of this military operation that lasted 13 days.

The State Department of the United States confirmed Monday the death of two U.S. soldiers operating in the Golani Brigade, within the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip. These two fighters have been identified, according to Agence France Presse, as Max Steinberg, 21, born in Texas, and the Californian Sean Carmeli, 24.

The U.S. secretary of state, John Kerry, emergency travel tonight to Cairo (Egypt) to try to ” put an end to hostilities ” according to the White House, after President Barack Obama on Sunday to call a “cease fire away “from both sides. Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of the UN on Monday will  also travel to Egypt to meet with the foreign minister of the African country, Sameh Shukri, and try to promote a ceasefire in Gaza.

Egypt, which has been the traditional mediator in the conflict between Israel and Palestine, has proposed a truce that Hamas rejected because “it had not given notice,” to the Islamist group. Some of the conditions of Hamas, which have not been accepted, are the end of the blockade on Gaza that Israel maintained for past seven years, the reopening of the Rafah crossing (south of the strip, which borders Egypt) and release of prisoners Israel arrested over the past two weeks, according to Agence France Presse.

Hamas, meanwhile, said Monday it ” will not bow to international pressure ” to achieve a cease- fire in Gaza and to continue the “armed resistance ” until their demands are met.

The Human Rights Commission of the UN will meet at the request of Pakistan, Egypt and Palestine Government on Wednesday to assess the situation of civilians in the Gaza Strip. Navy Pillay, representative of the committee, has warned for days that the Israeli military attacks on the Palestinian territory ” could violate international law.”

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Posted by Khalil Khan on Jul 22 2014. Filed under Latest News, Middle East. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.