Members
of the Palestinian Civil Defense help a survivor after he was pulled
out from under the rubble of his destroyed house after an Israeli air
strike in Gaza City November 18, 2012. Israel bombed militant …
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli aircraft
struck crowded areas in the Gaza Strip on Monday, driving up the
Palestinian death toll to 94 and devastating several homes belonging to
one clan as Israel broadened its targets in the 6-day-old offensive
meant to quell Hamas rocket fire on Israel.
Escalating its bombing campaign, Israel on Sunday began attacking
homes of activists in Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza.
These attacks have led to a sharp spike in civilian casualties, killing
24 civilians in just under two days and doubling the number of
civilians killed in the conflict, a Gaza health official said.The rising toll was likely to intensify pressure on Israel to end the fighting. Hundreds of civilian casualties in an Israeli offensive in Gaza four years ago led to fierce international condemnation of Israel.
Hamas fighters, meanwhile, have fired hundreds of rockets into Israel in the current round of fighting, including 75 on Monday, among them one that hit an empty school. Twenty rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile battery, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Rockets landed in open areas of Beersheva, Ashdod, Asheklon. Schools in southern Israel have been closed since the start of the offensive Wednesday.
The new airstrikes came as Egypt was trying to broker a cease-fire, with the help of Turkey and Qatar. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and a delegation of Arab foreign ministers were expected in Gaza on Tuesday. However, Israel and Hamas appeared far apart in their demands, and a quick end to the fighting seemed unlikely.
A senior Egyptian official told The Associated Press on Monday that Hamas and Israel were each presenting Egypt with their conditions for a cease-fire.
"I hope that by the end of the day we will receive a final signal of what can be achieved," said the official, who is familiar with the indirect negotiations. He said Israel and Hamas are both looking for guarantees to ensure a long-term stop to hostilities. The official says Egypt's aim is to stop the fighting and "find a direct way to lift the siege of Gaza."
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the indirect negotiations.
Overall, the offensive that began Wednesday killed 94 Palestinians, including 50 civilians, and wounded some 720 people, Gaza heath official Ashraf al-Kidra said. Among the wounded were 225 children, he said.
On the Israeli side, three civilians have died from Palestinian rocket fire and dozens have been wounded. An Israeli rocket-defense system has intercepted hundreds of rockets bound for populated areas.
In Monday's violence, a missile struck a three-story home in the Gaza City's Zeitoun area, flattening the building and badly damaging several nearby homes. Shell-shocked residents searching for belongings climbed over debris of twisted metal and cement blocks in the street.
The strike killed three adults and a 2-year-old boy, and wounded 42 people, al-Kidra said.
Residents said Israel first sent a warning strike at around 2 a.m. Monday, prompting many people in the area to flee their homes. A few minutes later, heavy bombardment followed.
Ahed Kitati, 38, had rushed out after the warning missile to try to hustle people to safety. But he was fatally struck by a falling cinderblock, leaving behind a pregnant wife, five young daughters and a son, the residents said.
Sitting in mourning with her mother and siblings just hours after her father's death, 11-year-old Aya Kitati clutched a black jacket, saying she was freezing, even though the weather was mild. "We were sleeping, and then we heard the sound of the bombs," she said, then broke down sobbing.
Ahed's brother, Jawad Kitati, said he plucked the lifeless body of a 2-year-old relative from the street and carried him to an ambulance. Blood stains smeared his jacket sleeve.
Another clan member, Haitham Abu Zour, 24, woke up to the sound of the warning strike and hid in a stairwell. He emerged to find his wife dead and his two infant children buried under the debris, but safe.
Clan elder Mohammed Azzam, 61, denied that anyone in his family had any connections to Hamas.
"The Jews are liars," he said. "No matter how much they pressure our people, we will not withdraw our support for Hamas."
Late Sunday, an Israeli missile killed a Hamas policeman and his 8-year-old son on the roof of their Gaza City home. The father was on the roof to repair a leaking water tank, his relatives said.
In another area of Gaza City, the patriarch of the Daloo family, Jamal, sat in mourning for 11 members of his family killed in a missile strike on his home Sunday. Among the dead were his wife, his son, daughter-in-law, his sister and four grandchildren. He embraced relatives and neighbors paying their condolences, his face swollen from crying.
The mourners sat in plastic chairs just meters away from bulldozers clearing the ruins of Daloo's home. His 16-year-old daughter Yara was still missing and believed under the rubble, family members said.
Daloo, who is left with two sons, tried to take comfort in the belief that the loss of his family was God's will and that the dead are now in paradise. He vehemently disputed Israel's initial claim that a senior operative of Islamic Jihad, a smaller sister group of Hamas, was hiding in his house. He said his son Mohammed, one of those killed, was a policeman in the Gaza police, but not an activist.
"The international public opinion witnessed the facts," he said of the tragedy that befell him. "This does not require my words."
Also Monday, Israel bombarded the remains of the former national security compound in Gaza City. Flying shrapnel killed one child and wounded others living nearby, al-Kidra said. Five farmers were killed in two separate strikes, al-Kidra said, including three who he said had been mistakenly identified earlier by Hamas security officials as Islamic Jihad fighters.
Other strikes killed two fighters on a motorcycle in southern Gaza and two passengers in a taxi that had put a press sign in the windshield, al-Kidra said.
Israel launched the current offensive after months of intensifying rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, which has continued despite the strikes.
In the night from Sunday to
Monday, aircraft targeted about 80 militant sites, including underground
rocket-launching sites, smuggling tunnels and training bases, as well
as Palestinian command posts and weapons storage facilities located in
buildings owned by militant commanders, the Israeli military said in a
release. Aircraft and gunboats joined forces to attack Hamas police
headquarters, and Palestinian rocket squads were struck as they prepared
to fire, the release said.
In all, 1,350 targets in the Gaza
Strip have been struck since the Israeli operation began. However,
military activity over the past two nights has dropped off as targets
change and international efforts to wrest a cease-fire plod ahead.
Israel and Hamas have put forth
widely divergent conditions for a truce. But failure to end the fighting
threatens to touch off an Israeli ground invasion, for which thousands
of soldiers, backed by tanks and armored vehicles, have already been
mobilized and dispatched to Gaza's border.
President Barack Obama said he
was in touch with players across the region in hopes of halting the
fighting. While defending Israel's right to defend itself against the
rocket fire, he also warned of the risks the Jewish state would take if
it were to expand its air assault into a ground war.
"If we see a further escalation
of the situation in Gaza, the likelihood of us getting back on any kind
of peace track that leads to a two-state solution is going to be pushed
off way into the future," Obama said.
Members of the Palestinian Civil Defense help a survivor after he was pulled out from under the rubble of his destroyed house after an Israeli air strike in Gaza City November 18, 2012. Israel bombed militant targets in Gaza for a fifth straight day on Sunday, launching aerial and naval attacks as its military prepared for a possible ground invasion, though Egypt saw "some indications" of a truce ahead. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY POLITICS CONFLICT)
A Palestinian stone-thrower uses a sling to throw back a tear gas canister fired by Israeli security forces during clashes outside Ofer prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah November 18, 2012. The clashes broke out following a protest against Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)
A Palestinian stone-thrower uses a sling to throw back a tear gas canister fired by Israeli security forces during clashes outside Ofer prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah November 18, 2012. The clashes broke out following a protest against Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)
Palestinians gather around a destroyed house after an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip November 19, 2012. Israel bombed dozens of suspected guerrilla sites in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Monday and Palestinian rocket fire from the enclave dropped off as international efforts to broker a truce intensified. Ten civilians and two field commanders from the Islamic Jihad faction were killed and at least 30 other Palestinians were hurt in the new air strikes, hospital officials said, bringing the death toll from six days of clashes in Gaza to 85. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS CONFLICT)
A Palestinian man hides during a protest against Israel's operations in Gaza Strip, outside Ofer, an Israeli military prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
A Palestinian man hides during a protest against Israel's operations in Gaza Strip, outside Ofer, an Israeli military prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
A Palestinian boy walks up the stairs of a house destroyed on Sunday by an Israeli strike in Gaza City, Monday, Nov. 19, 2012. The Palestinian civilian death toll mounted Monday as Israeli aircraft struck densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip in its campaign to quell militant rocket fire menacing nearly half of Israel's population. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
A Palestinian boy walks up the stairs of a house destroyed on Sunday by an Israeli strike in Gaza City, Monday, Nov. 19, 2012. The Palestinian civilian death toll mounted Monday as Israeli aircraft struck densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip in its campaign to quell militant rocket fire menacing nearly half of Israel's population. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
A Palestinian boy walks up the stairs of a house destroyed on Sunday by an Israeli strike in Gaza City, Monday, Nov. 19, 2012. The Palestinian civilian death toll mounted Monday as Israeli aircraft struck densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip in its campaign to quell militant rocket fire menacing nearly half of Israel's population. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
A Palestinian boy walks up the stairs of a house destroyed on Sunday by an Israeli strike in Gaza City, Monday, Nov. 19, 2012. The Palestinian civilian death toll mounted Monday as Israeli aircraft struck densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip in its campaign to quell militant rocket fire menacing nearly half of Israel's population. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
A member of the Abdel Aal family is rescued after his family house collapsed during an Israeli forces strike in the Tufah neighborhood, Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. The Israeli military widened its range of targets in the Gaza Strip on Sunday to include the media operations of the Palestinian territory's Hamas rulers, sending its aircraft to attack two buildings used by both Hamas and foreign media outlets. (AP Photo/Majed Hamdan)
A member of the Abdel Aal family is rescued after his family house collapsed during an Israeli forces strike in the Tufah neighborhood, Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. The Israeli military widened its range of targets in the Gaza Strip on Sunday to include the media operations of the Palestinian territory's Hamas rulers, sending its aircraft to attack two buildings used by both Hamas and foreign media outlets. (AP Photo/Majed Hamdan)
A Palestinian woman reacts in front of a destroyed house after an Israeli air strike in Gaza City November 19, 2012. Hostilities between Islamist militants and Israel entered a sixth day on Monday as diplomatic efforts were set to intensify to try to stop rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and Israeli air strikes on Gaza. International pressure for a ceasefire seemed certain to mount after the deadliest single incident in the flare-up on Sunday claimed the lives of at least 11 Palestinian civilians, including four children. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY CONFLICT)
A member of civil defence inspects the damage after an Israeli air strike, witnessed by a Reuters journalist, on a floor in a building that also houses media offices in Gaza City November 19, 2012. Egypt's prime minister said on Monday that an agreement brokered by Cairo to stop the fighting between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza could be close. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: MILITARY CONFLICT MEDIA)
A member of civil defence inspects the damage after an Israeli air strike, witnessed by a Reuters journalist, on a floor in a building that also houses media offices in Gaza City November 19, 2012. Egypt's prime minister said on Monday that an agreement brokered by Cairo to stop the fighting between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza could be close. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: MILITARY CONFLICT MEDIA)
Palestinians evacuate a wounded man after an Israeli air strike, witnessed by a Reuters journalist, on a floor in a building that also houses media offices in Gaza City November 19, 2012. Egypt's prime minister said on Monday that an agreement brokered by Cairo to stop the fighting between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza could be close. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: MILITARY CONFLICT MEDIA)
Palestinians evacuate a wounded man after an Israeli air strike, witnessed by a Reuters journalist, on a floor in a building that also houses media offices in Gaza City November 19, 2012. Egypt's prime minister said on Monday that an agreement brokered by Cairo to stop the fighting between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza could be close. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: MILITARY CONFLICT MEDIA)
Smoke rises following an Israeli attack on smuggling tunnels on the border between Egypt and Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Nov. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Eyad Baba)
Smoke rises following an Israeli attack on smuggling tunnels on the border between Egypt and Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Nov. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Eyad Baba)
A Palestinian man cries next the body of a dead relative in the morgue of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. President Barack Obama on Sunday defended Israel's airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, but he warned that escalating the offensive with Israeli ground troops could deepen the death toll and undermine any hope of a peace process with the Palestinians. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
A Palestinian man cries next the body of a dead relative in the morgue of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. President Barack Obama on Sunday defended Israel's airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, but he warned that escalating the offensive with Israeli ground troops could deepen the death toll and undermine any hope of a peace process with the Palestinians. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
A member of the Abdel Aal family is rescued after his family house collapsed during an Israeli forces strike in the Tufah neighbourhood, Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. The Israeli military widened its range of targets in the Gaza Strip on Sunday to include the media operations of the Palestinian territory's Hamas rulers, sending its aircraft to attack two buildings used by both Hamas and foreign media outlets. (AP Photo/Majed Hamdan)
A member of the Abdel Aal family is rescued after his family house collapsed during an Israeli forces strike in the Tufah neighbourhood, Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. The Israeli military widened its range of targets in the Gaza Strip on Sunday to include the media operations of the Palestinian territory's Hamas rulers, sending its aircraft to attack two buildings used by both Hamas and foreign media outlets. (AP Photo/Majed Hamdan)
Members of the Palestinian Civil Defense help a survivor after he was pulled out from under the rubble of his destroyed house after an Israeli air strike in Gaza City November 18, 2012. Israel bombed militant targets in Gaza for a fifth straight day on Sunday, launching aerial and naval attacks as its military prepared for a possible ground invasion, though Egypt saw "some indications" of a truce ahead. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY POLITICS CONFLICT)
A Palestinian stone-thrower uses a sling to throw back a tear gas canister fired by Israeli security forces during clashes outside Ofer prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah November 18, 2012. The clashes broke out following a protest against Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)
A Palestinian stone-thrower uses a sling to throw back a tear gas canister fired by Israeli security forces during clashes outside Ofer prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah November 18, 2012. The clashes broke out following a protest against Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)
Palestinians gather around a destroyed house after an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip November 19, 2012. Israel bombed dozens of suspected guerrilla sites in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Monday and Palestinian rocket fire from the enclave dropped off as international efforts to broker a truce intensified. Ten civilians and two field commanders from the Islamic Jihad faction were killed and at least 30 other Palestinians were hurt in the new air strikes, hospital officials said, bringing the death toll from six days of clashes in Gaza to 85. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS CONFLICT)
A Palestinian man hides during a protest against Israel's operations in Gaza Strip, outside Ofer, an Israeli military prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
A Palestinian man hides during a protest against Israel's operations in Gaza Strip, outside Ofer, an Israeli military prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
A Palestinian boy walks up the stairs of a house destroyed on Sunday by an Israeli strike in Gaza City, Monday, Nov. 19, 2012. The Palestinian civilian death toll mounted Monday as Israeli aircraft struck densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip in its campaign to quell militant rocket fire menacing nearly half of Israel's population. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
A Palestinian boy walks up the stairs of a house destroyed on Sunday by an Israeli strike in Gaza City, Monday, Nov. 19, 2012. The Palestinian civilian death toll mounted Monday as Israeli aircraft struck densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip in its campaign to quell militant rocket fire menacing nearly half of Israel's population. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
A Palestinian boy walks up the stairs of a house destroyed on Sunday by an Israeli strike in Gaza City, Monday, Nov. 19, 2012. The Palestinian civilian death toll mounted Monday as Israeli aircraft struck densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip in its campaign to quell militant rocket fire menacing nearly half of Israel's population. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
A Palestinian boy walks up the stairs of a house destroyed on Sunday by an Israeli strike in Gaza City, Monday, Nov. 19, 2012. The Palestinian civilian death toll mounted Monday as Israeli aircraft struck densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip in its campaign to quell militant rocket fire menacing nearly half of Israel's population. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
A member of the Abdel Aal family is rescued after his family house collapsed during an Israeli forces strike in the Tufah neighborhood, Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. The Israeli military widened its range of targets in the Gaza Strip on Sunday to include the media operations of the Palestinian territory's Hamas rulers, sending its aircraft to attack two buildings used by both Hamas and foreign media outlets. (AP Photo/Majed Hamdan)
A member of the Abdel Aal family is rescued after his family house collapsed during an Israeli forces strike in the Tufah neighborhood, Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. The Israeli military widened its range of targets in the Gaza Strip on Sunday to include the media operations of the Palestinian territory's Hamas rulers, sending its aircraft to attack two buildings used by both Hamas and foreign media outlets. (AP Photo/Majed Hamdan)
A Palestinian woman reacts in front of a destroyed house after an Israeli air strike in Gaza City November 19, 2012. Hostilities between Islamist militants and Israel entered a sixth day on Monday as diplomatic efforts were set to intensify to try to stop rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and Israeli air strikes on Gaza. International pressure for a ceasefire seemed certain to mount after the deadliest single incident in the flare-up on Sunday claimed the lives of at least 11 Palestinian civilians, including four children. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY CONFLICT)
A member of civil defence inspects the damage after an Israeli air strike, witnessed by a Reuters journalist, on a floor in a building that also houses media offices in Gaza City November 19, 2012. Egypt's prime minister said on Monday that an agreement brokered by Cairo to stop the fighting between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza could be close. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: MILITARY CONFLICT MEDIA)
A member of civil defence inspects the damage after an Israeli air strike, witnessed by a Reuters journalist, on a floor in a building that also houses media offices in Gaza City November 19, 2012. Egypt's prime minister said on Monday that an agreement brokered by Cairo to stop the fighting between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza could be close. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: MILITARY CONFLICT MEDIA)
Palestinians evacuate a wounded man after an Israeli air strike, witnessed by a Reuters journalist, on a floor in a building that also houses media offices in Gaza City November 19, 2012. Egypt's prime minister said on Monday that an agreement brokered by Cairo to stop the fighting between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza could be close. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: MILITARY CONFLICT MEDIA)
Palestinians evacuate a wounded man after an Israeli air strike, witnessed by a Reuters journalist, on a floor in a building that also houses media offices in Gaza City November 19, 2012. Egypt's prime minister said on Monday that an agreement brokered by Cairo to stop the fighting between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza could be close. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: MILITARY CONFLICT MEDIA)
Smoke rises following an Israeli attack on smuggling tunnels on the border between Egypt and Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Nov. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Eyad Baba)
Smoke rises following an Israeli attack on smuggling tunnels on the border between Egypt and Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Nov. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Eyad Baba)
A Palestinian man cries next the body of a dead relative in the morgue of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. President Barack Obama on Sunday defended Israel's airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, but he warned that escalating the offensive with Israeli ground troops could deepen the death toll and undermine any hope of a peace process with the Palestinians. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
A Palestinian man cries next the body of a dead relative in the morgue of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. President Barack Obama on Sunday defended Israel's airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, but he warned that escalating the offensive with Israeli ground troops could deepen the death toll and undermine any hope of a peace process with the Palestinians. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
A member of the Abdel Aal family is rescued after his family house collapsed during an Israeli forces strike in the Tufah neighbourhood, Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. The Israeli military widened its range of targets in the Gaza Strip on Sunday to include the media operations of the Palestinian territory's Hamas rulers, sending its aircraft to attack two buildings used by both Hamas and foreign media outlets. (AP Photo/Majed Hamdan)
A member of the Abdel Aal family is rescued after his family house collapsed during an Israeli forces strike in the Tufah neighbourhood, Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. The Israeli military widened its range of targets in the Gaza Strip on Sunday to include the media operations of the Palestinian territory's Hamas rulers, sending its aircraft to attack two buildings used by both Hamas and foreign media outlets. (AP Photo/Majed Hamdan)
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