97 more Palestinians, 13 Israeli soldiers killed

GAZA CITY: At least 97 Gazan Palestinians and 13 Israeli soldiers were killed Sunday as Israel ramped up a major military offensive in the bloodiest single day in the enclave in five years. As regional leaders met in Doha for urgent talks on a ceasefire, the Gaza Palestinian death toll soared to 425, with a spokesman for the emergency services saying more than a third of the victims were women and children.
The Israeli army said that 13 soldiers from the same brigade had been killed in a series of attacks inside Gaza on the third day of a major ground operation, according to a news agency.
“Over the course of the day, 13 soldiers from the IDF’s Golani Brigade were killed in combat in the Gaza Strip,” an army statement said.
Their deaths raised to 18 the total number of soldiers killed since Israel’s ground operation began late Thursday, in what was the largest number of soldiers killed in combat since the 2006 Lebanon war.
Most of Sunday’s Palestinian victims were killed in a blistering hours-long Israeli assault on Shejaiya near Gaza City, which began before dawn and has so far claimed 62 Palestinian lives.
US Secretary of State John Kerry blamed Hamas for perpetuating the conflict, urging it to “be responsible and accept... a multilateral ceasefire without conditions”.
But Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of killing Palestinians “mercilessly” and lashed out at Washington for turning a blind eye to Gaza’s suffering.
“How can we ignore this? How can a country like the United States turn a blind eye to this?” he asked. “As a member of the UN Security Council, it needs to act fairly.”
Meanwhile, at Gaza City’s Shifa hospital, casualties were being brought in by the minute during the morning, among them many children peppered with shrapnel wounds and screaming in agony. “This is the worst I’ve ever seen it,” said Dr Said Hassan, who has worked at the hospital for eight years.