LATEST: Hamas Executes 18 “Collaborators” With Israel
UPDATE 1850 GMT: Seven Gazans have been killed by Israeli attacks since Friday morning, according to the Health Ministry.
UPDATE 1830 GMT: A four-year-old boy has been killed in southern Israel by a mortar attack from Gaza.
The child was in a car that took a direct hit from the mortar. He was critically injured and died later in hospital.
The boy is the fourth civilian to be killed in Israel, and the first since the initial days of the conflict.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Hamas will pay a “heavy price” for the death.
Supporting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s promise of extended operations in Gaza, Israel has called up 10,000 reservists as it rotates its forces in the 45-day war.
Meanwhile, Hamas has promised that it will strike back at West Jerusalem after three commanders of the Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Wednesday.
Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas Prime Minister in Gaza, said, “The path is long, and the fighters of the al-Qassam Brigades will cause the enemy to pay a heavy price. The crimes of the enemy only strengthen our adherence to our demands of a stop to aggression, a lifting of the siege and a life of freedom.”
Thousands of Gazans came out on the streets as the three commanders, including the heads of Al-Qassam’s operations in southern Gaza and in Rafah, were buried on Thursday.
Ceasefire efforts collapsed on Tuesday in Cairo after a temporary halt to fighting was broken by Gazan rockets and Israeli airstrikes, including an attempt to assassinate leading Hamas commander Mohammad Deif which killed his wife and 7-month-old son. Israel carried out attack on more than 50 targets yesterday, and said 109 Gazan rockets were launched across the border.
Medical sources said another 38 Gazans were killed on Thursday, bringing the death toll in the territory to at least 2,090. The Gazan human rights organization Mizan says 77% of the dead are civilians.
Israel lost 64 troops in its ground offensive, and two Israeli civilians and a Thai worker were killed by rockets.
In New York, diplomats tried to revive the ceasefire process with a resolution drafted by Germany, France, and Britain.
Key points include lifting of the Israeli blockade; control of Gaza by the Palestinian Authority — rather than Hamas, which has led the territory since 2006 — a ban of unauthorized sales of weapons, reconstruction of Gaza under international supervision, and a restart of peace talks based on 1967 borders between Israel and Palestine.
Hamas Executes 18 “Collaborators” With Israel
A Gazan security official said Hamas authorities executed 18 people in Gaza police on Friday, accusing them of being informers for Israel.
Eleven of the men were shot by firing squad in a police station.
The official said those executed were sentenced by Gazan courts.