Nearly 200 Palestinians, including 58 children, killed in the Gaza Strip as Israeli bombardment enters second week.
The Israeli military launched another series of air raids on the Gaza Strip early on Monday, hours after its caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacks on the Palestinian enclave would rage on.
Explosions rocked Gaza City from north to south in a bombardment that was heavier, wider and lasted longer than the air raids that killed at least 42 Palestinians and wounded dozens more on Sunday. One Palestinian was reported injured.
At least 198 people, including 58 children, have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the latest violence began a week ago. More than 1,300 Palestinians were also wounded.
Earlier, Hamas, the group that governs the Gaza Strip, fired rockets towards the Israeli cities of Ashkelon and Beersheba. Israel has reported 10 dead, including two children.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi agreed in Paris that it was “absolutely necessary” to end the hostilities, Macron’s office said, adding that he had renewed his support for Egypt’s mediation efforts in the conflict.
United States envoy and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday, Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim reported.
“According to the statement carried by WAFA, the official news agency, it says that President Abbas has urged the US to intervene and pressure Israel to stop what he calls its an aggression on Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip and in occupied East Jerusalem and in all of the occupied West Bank,” she said.
“Palestinians say they don’t even believe that these diplomatic efforts are going to lead to de-escalation and if it does is probably going to be related to this round of violence, while the underlying conditions.. are still going to be there,” Ibrahim added.