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Avigdor Lieberman

AT least four people were killed and 70 people, among them medical staff, were wounded yesterday in Israeli bombing of a hospital in the central Gaza Strip, medics said.Emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said the 70 injured included at least 20 hospital staff, among them doctors, AFP reported.

Al-Qudra 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.

Israeli air strikes claimed another 20 lives in the Gaza Strip yesterday after the United Nations Security Council voiced “serious concern” about the violence and urged an immediate ceasefire.

The United Nations Human Rights Council will hold an emergency session on Israel’s assault on Gaza on Wednesday at the request of Egypt, Palestine and Islamic states, the UN said.

Egypt’s request, made on behalf of the Arab Group of countries, was backed by the requisite minimum of 16 member states of the 47-member forum, including China, Russia and Saudi Arabia, according to Reuters.

Israeli forces killed at least 10 Palestinian militants yesterday after they crossed the border from Gaza through two tunnels, the military said, as the death toll from the two-week conflict passed 500.

The Palestinian death toll rose to 501 when a home in the town of Khan Younis was destroyed, killing 20 people inside. In the morning, Gaza suffered its daily round of bombardment from Israeli warships hovering in the Mediterranean.

But diplomatic efforts to secure an end to the fighting, which entered its 14th day yesterday, are beginning to gather pace.

The Security Council passed a press statement expressing its concern at the rising death toll and urging the “respect of international humanitarian law, including protection of civilians”.

However, the Security Council stopped short of passing a formal resolution. John Kerry, the US secretary of state, is expected to leave for Cairo later yesterday where he will try to revive a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas dating from 2012.

But there has been no reduction in the tempo of military operations by both sides. Sunday was the bloodiest day since the onset of Israel’s offensive on July 8, with 100 Palestinians being killed — mainly in the bombardment of the Shejaiya area of Gaza City — and Israel losing 13 soldiers, marking its heaviest casualties in a single day of combat for 12 years.

Yesterday, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said Hamas had made another attempt to infiltrate fighters into Israel through two tunnels leading out of Gaza. A military statement said 10 of the insurgents were killed by an air strike.

IDF also confirmed via Twitter that a rocket hit the greater Tel Aviv metropolitan area yesterday.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman also issued a call on Facebook for Israelis not to shop in the Arab stores whose owners are taking part in a general strike in solidarity with Gazans and against the current operation.

In total, 18 Israeli soldiers and two civilians have been killed since the start of Operation Protective Edge. Hamas claimed on Sunday night to have captured an Israeli soldier, citing a name and identification number. But these details appeared  to be the same as those of a soldier who was killed in Gaza. The IDF said that it was investigating the claim.  — The Telegraph.