Egypt on Saturday called on Israel and Hamas to halt hostilities and resume peace talks, but both sides kept up attacks, including an Israeli air strike that destroyed a residential tower block in Gaza City.
Hamas militants also fired rockets at Israel, hitting the southern city of Beersheba, where two people were hurt, police said. At least two rockets were also fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, but it was not initially clear who fired them, Lebanese and Israeli sources said.
At least five rockets fired from Syria also landed at various locations on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the Israeli army said. All fell in open areas, causing no injuries or damage. It was not immediately known who fired the rockets.
Photo: Reuters
Initial reports said 17 people were wounded in the attack on the 13-story Gaza building, local health officials said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said the building, which collapsed completely, contained a command center belonging to Hamas militants. Local residents said it housed 44 families.
Another strike later destroyed a commercial center in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, injuring three people, local medical staff said.
Five Palestinians, including two children, were killed in another Israeli strike on a house in central Gaza, health officials said. Seven Palestinians were killed in other strikes, including one on a car.
Photo: AFP
The Israeli military said it bombed about 20 targets across the Hamas-ruled strip, including rocket launchers and weapon caches next to schools.
No Israeli casualties were reported on Saturday, although rockets and mortar bombs rained down on Israel throughout the day, including one intercepted over the Tel Aviv area, the military said. At least 570 rockets have been fired at Israel since a ceasefire collapsed on Tuesday, it added.
Palestinian officials say 2,083 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the small, densely populated coastal enclave since July 8, when Israel launched an offensive with the declared aim of ending Palestinian rocket fire into its territory.
Sixty-four Israeli soldiers and four civilians have been killed.
Indirect ceasefire talks mediated by Egypt to end the conflict collapsed after rockets were fired from Gaza during a truce and Israel responded with air strikes.
The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday called on both sides to resume talks. Palestinian President Abbas, in Cairo after meeting Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, also urged a swift resumption of negotiations.
A senior Egyptian diplomat said Abbas had informed al-Sisi that Hamas was prepared to return to Cairo, but the group did not immediately confirm the report. The diplomat said Cairo expected responses from both sides by today.
Hamas has said it will not stop fighting until the Israeli-Egyptian blockade on Gaza is lifted, but Israel and Egypt view Hamas as a security threat and are reluctant to make sweeping concessions without guarantees that weapons will not enter the economically crippled enclave.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the movement was “in favor of any real effort that will secure the achievement of Palestinian demands and we will study any proposal when presented.”
Saturday’s violence took place a day after a four-year-old Israeli boy was killed by a mortar attack from Gaza, leading Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to threaten to escalate the offensive.
Also on Saturday, Hamas leaders said they signed off on Abbas’ bid to join the International Criminal Court, a move that could open both Israel and the militant group to war crime probes over the conflict.
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