UPDATE 1845 GMT: The Israeli Cabinet, after a 5-hour meeting, has instructed the Israel Defense Force to continue to “forcefully hit Hamas and the other terrorist organizations in Gaza”.
Israeli sources gave the official line that the military operations were to continue the demolition of tunnels from Gaza into Israel. They added, “The IDF also has significant achievements in damaging the terrorist infrastructure of Hamas and additional terrorist groups and will continue act and expand these operations.”
See Gaza Video: Fighters Infiltrate Via Tunnel, Kill Israeli Soldiers
Gaza Analysis: Israel Steps Up Pressure on US with Leaked Obama-Netanyahu “Transcript”
UPDATE 1840 GMT: Despite its declared four-hour humanitarian pause in operations this afternoon, the Israeli military killed at least 15 Gazans and wounded more than 150 in a strike on a market in Shaja’ia, east of Gaza.
The Israel Defense Forces did not admit responsibility for the attack, but said that Shaja’ia was not in the area covered by the pause, which was only for areas where Israel was not conducting military operations.
Almost 100 people were killed in Shaja’ia last week by a 12-hour bombardment which reduced much of the town to rubble.
UPDATE 1835 GMT: Three Israeli soldiers were killed and 15 were injured on Wednesday in a booby-trapped building near Khan Yuni.
Soldiers evacuating the wounded came under fire.
Israel has now lost 56 soldiers since it launched a ground invasion of Gaza on July 17.
UPDATE 1815 GMT: Washington has implicitly criticized Israel for the deaths of at least 19 people, with more than 90 injured, in the shelling of the UN shelter in Jabaliya, while also condemning Gazan fighters for rockets found in UN facilities:
The United States condemns the shelling of a UNRWA school in Gaza, which reportedly killed and injured innocent Palestinians –– including children –– and UN humanitarian workers. We are extremely concerned that thousands of internally displaced Palestinians who have been called on by the Israeli military to evacuate their homes are not safe in UN designated shelters in Gaza.
We also condemn those responsible for hiding weapons in United Nations facilities in Gaza. All of these actions, and similar ones earlier in the conflict, are inconsistent with the UN’s neutrality.
This violence underscores the need to achieve a cease-fire as soon as possible.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has gone farther in the denunciation of Israeli military operations:
“This morning a UN school sheltering thousands of Palestinian families suffered a reprehensible attack.
It is unjustifiable, and demands accountability and justice….
I want to make it clear that the exact location of this elementary school has been communicated to the Israeli military authorities 17 times, as recently as last night, just a few hours before this attack.
UPDATE 1315 GMT: The Israel Defense Forces announced a humanitarian pause to allow aid in Gaza between 3 pm to 7 pm local time (1200-1600 GMT).
The pause is only for the 50% of Gaza where Israel is not pursuing ground operations.
UPDATE 1315 GMT: The death toll from this morning’s shelling of a UN school in Jabaliya is now 19, with at least 90 wounded.
The Israeli military claimed that initial inquiries showed that “Hamas militants fired mortar shells from the vicinity of the school, and [Israeli] soldiers responded by firing towards the origins of the fire”.
Without blaming either side openly, the UN’s head of humanitarian operations, Valerie Amos, said:
I am alarmed at the intensity of the violence in Gaza after a brief humanitarian ceasefire. Today another UN school serving as a shelter has been hit in gross violation of international law. More children, civilians killed and injured. Yesterday, the UNSCO/UNOCHA Headquarters in Gaza was hit five times over a period between 1 am and 2 am. Gaza’s sole power plant was also hit and is unlikely to be operable for the foreseeable future leaving most homes with an average of 2 hours of electricity per day.
The harrowing pictures we see every day are a reminder to us all of the terrifying ordeal being suffered by children and families in Gaza….I hope that all those with influence over the parties involved in this conflict will continue to do their utmost to agree on a lasting ceasefire and bring this conflict to an end. Let’s put people first.
UPDATE 0815 GMT: Chris Gunness, the spokesman for the UN refugee agency UNRWA, has issued an audio appeal as more than 200,000 Gazans shelter in UN facilities:
We are completely overwhelmed. This is a cry from the heart. We can’t go on, we’ve reached breaking point….It’s intolerable that humanitarian workers are paying such an inordinately high price. It’s got to stop.
Israel stepped up bombardment of Gaza on Tuesday and Wednesday, as ceasefire talks were mired in confusion over the position of both Hamas and the Israelis and a leaked “transcript” of a phone call between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Obama.
An Israeli attack on Wednesday morning on a UN school used as a shelter in Jabaliya killed at least 16 people and injured more than 90. Yesterday’s airstrikes and shelling also hit Jabaliya, a media center in a tower block, a port, a mosque, and the only power plant supplying electricity in Gaza. The director of the plant declared it “finished” after a large fire from an exploded fuel tank.
Israel’s attack on the Jabaliya is the latest in a series of strikes on schools converted into shelters. Israel has denied some of the earlier incidents, with scores of casualties, claiming initially that Hamas rockets must be responsible and then saying that they had attacked but without causing death or injury.
Israel may now claim a military objective for the attacks. On Tuesday, the UN said it had found another cache of rockets at one of its schools.
At least three caches have been found in UN schools during the conflict.
“We condemn the group or groups who endangered civilians by placing these munitions in our school. This is yet another flagrant violation of the neutrality of our premises. We call on all the warring parties to respect the inviolability of U.N. property,” UN spokesman Chris Gunness said.
Almost 150 Gazans have been killed since Tuesday morning, bringing the death toll to at least 1,263 with more than 7,000 wounded in the 23-day war.
Hamas countered on Tuesday with a video showing an infiltration of Israel through a tunnel and an attack on an Israeli outpost. West Jerusalem had earlier said that five of its soldiers had died in the fighting.
Israel has lost 53 troops since it launched a ground invasion on July 17. Two Israeli civilians and a Thai worker have been killed by Gazan rockets fired across the border.
Early on Tuesday, reports circulated that the Palestinian Authority was ready to present a ceasefire plan approved by the Gazan leadership, but Hamas soon denied that it had given its support.
Then the diplomacy in Cairo for a resolution was complicated by the latest row between Israel and the US, following the Israeli rejection of a ceasefire plan pressed by American Secretary of State John Kerry.
Israel pushed back US claims that Prime Minister Netanyahu was now ready for a halt to fighting, contradicting his public line talking of a “protracted” war.
Then a Tuesday night phone call between Obama and Netanyahu added tension when Israel’s Channel 1 posted a supposed transcript, in which the US President demanded a halt to Israeli military operations and insisted that West Jerusalem accept the American approach for a ceasefire.
See Gaza Analysis: Israel Steps Up Pressure on US with Leaked Obama-Netanyahu “Transcript”
The stilted language indicated either a fake or a distorted summary of the conversation, and both the White House and Netanyahu’s office — in identical statements — denounced an attempt to sabotage discussions.
However, the episode left the question as to who in Israel had provided the “transcript” and how close that person or persons might be to the Netanyahu Government.