UPDATE 1940 GMT: Ten Gazans, including nine children, died in an apparent Israeli airstrike on the Shati refugee camp on Monday afternoon, about the same that the al-Shifa hospital complex (see below) was struck.
The Israeli military denied responsibility.
“We have not fired on the hospital or on Shati refugee camp,” Major Arye Shalicar said. “We know that Hamas was firing from both areas and the missiles struck these places.”
UPDATE 1910 GMT: Five Israeli soldiers have been killed on Monday. Four died in mortar fire near the Gaza border, while the fifth was slain in clashes with Gazan fighters near Khan Yunis.
Israel has now lost 48 troops since the ground invasion began July 17.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the press at the Defense Ministry compound, “There is no war more just than this. Bravery and determination are needed to fight a terror group which seeks our destruction.”
He pushed aside any thought of a ceasefire, “We need to be prepared for a long operation until our mission is accomplished.”
See also Gaza Analysis: Obama Appeals to Netanyahu After Israel Sinks US Ceasefire Plan
UPDATE 1350 GMT: Frustrated UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appealed to both sides for a ceasefire:
It’s a matter of their political will. They have to show their humanity as leaders, both Israeli and Palestinian. Why these leaders are making their people to be killed by others? It’s not responsible, (it’s) morally wrong.
UPDATE 1330 GMT: Gazan authorities say four people have been four were killed in an Israeli attack on a civilian vehicle near the Shati Camp, west of Gaza City, while three have been killed and several wounded by a rocket from an unmanned drone fired at the al-Shifa Hospital’s external clinics in Gaza. According to eyewitnesses, an unmanned aircraft fired a rocket at the clinic.
The Shifa compound is used by a shelter by thousands of Gazans who fled their homes due to the fighting.
(The Israeli military later claimed that an investigation found that the army did not fire at the hospital complex and that Hamas is believed to be responsible.
However, medical staff said they had seen a missile attack by an Israeli F16 jet.)
The UN Security Council has called for “an immediate and unconditional humanitarian cease-fire” in the 20-day Gaza war after Israel put a US ceasefire proposal beyond consideration on Sunday.
Effectively recognizing that any possibility of full agreement to halt fighting had disappeared, the Council unanimously urged Israel and Hamas “to accept and fully implement the humanitarian cease-fire into the Eid period and beyond.”
Muslims begin celebration of the Eid al-Fitr holiday, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, on Monday.
Before the Council session, President Obama had called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to salvage US diplomacy, following Israel’s rejection — through a high-profile PR campaign — of the ceasefire initiative of Secretary of State John Kerry.
Gaza Analysis: Obama Appeals to Netanyahu After Israel Sinks US Ceasefire Plan
The Israeli Government rejected Hamas’s call for an extension of a humanitarian pause by 24 hours on Sunday. The Israel Defense Forces said they were now observing “a ceasefire with no restrictions”, halting airstrikes but continuing to destroy tunnels from Gaza into Israel — the official reason for military operations.
At least 15 Gazans were killed by Israeli action on Sunday, taking the offical death toll to 1,034 with more than 6,200 wounded.
Israel has lost 43 troops, and two Israeli civilians and a Thai worker have been killed by rockets from Gaza.
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