A dozen Gazans killed in fresh Israeli air strikes
Tuesday, 22 July 2014
GAZA CITY July 21 (agency): An Israeli air strike Monday a home in the centre of Gaza City killed eight people, including four children, Palestinian medics said.
The new strike came shortly after Israeli shelling of a central Gaza hospital killed at least five people.
Meanwhile: Israel shelled a hospital in the central Gaza Strip Monday, killing five people and wounding at least 70, medics said.
Emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said the 70 injured included at least 20 hospital staff, among them doctors.
He said the third floor of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah had been hit, with an interior ministry official saying it was hit by Israeli tank fire.
Palestinian television showed footage of wounded people, including medical staff, being treated after the bombing.
Another report adds: World efforts to end two weeks of deadly violence in and around Gaza stepped up a gear on Monday as the UN chief arrived in Cairo and the top US diplomat was awaited.
UN secretary-general chief Ban Ki-moon was already in the region on a whistlestop tour to build support for a truce and arrived in Cairo on Monday afternoon after meeting top officials in Kuwait, the current chair of the Arab League.
US Secretary of State John Kerry was flying to the region after President Barack Obama urged an "immediate ceasefire", echoing a call by the UN Security Council. The new momentum for a ceasefire came as the Palestinian death toll in Gaza topped 500 and the Israeli army said 18 of its soldiers had been killed, its heaviest losses in eight years.
Egypt has been a mediator in past Israel-Palestinian conflicts and has taken the lead in trying to broker a truce between Israel and its Islamist foe Hamas which dominates the Gaza Strip.