Escalating their ground offensive, Israeli troops backed by tanks and warplanes battled Hamas militants in a crowded neighbourhood of Gaza City early Sunday. The fighting, including heavy Israeli tank fire, killed scores of Palestinians, forced thousands to flee and damaged or destroyed dozens of homes.
Palestinian health officials reported at least 65 people killed as air and artillery strikes echoed across the city for hours. They put the number of displaced at 35,000.
A two-hour "humanitarian ceasefire" in the area, agreed by both sides at the request of the International Committee of the Red Cross, broke down in minutes with each side blaming the other.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of carrying out a massacre and declared three days of mourning.
'The gate of hell has opened, and shrapnel came through the windows.'- Jawad Hassanain, Shijaiyah resident
The nearly two-week conflict has killed more than 400 Palestinians and seven Israelis, and appeared to be escalating as UN chief Ban Ki-moon headed to the region to try to revive ceasefire efforts.
After daybreak, dozens of wounded from Shijaiyah were rushed to Gaza City's central Shifa Hospital. Frantic parents carried children bloodied by shrapnel, and the emergency room quickly overflowed, forcing doctors to treat some patients on mattresses in a hallway.
"The gate of hell has opened, and shrapnel came through the windows," said Shijaiyah resident Jawad Hassanain, speaking by phone. He said he and his family sought shelter in a nearby building after their house shook from the explosions.
"From 12:30 a.m. until 4 a.m., all you could hear is heavy bombardment, the smell of fire and the smell of death. By 4:30, and after the call for the prayer, we were able to get in an ambulance," which took them to his sister's neighbourhood, he said.
Palestinians flee during heavy Israeli shelling in Gaza City on Sunday. Israel said it had expanded its ground offensive in Gaza and militants kept up rocket fire into the Jewish state with no sign of a diplomatic breakthrough to end the worst fighting between Israel and Hamas in two years. (Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters)
Following a request by the Red Cross, Israel and Hamas said they agreed to a brief, local ceasefire to enable rescue services to attend to the dead and wounded. The truce did not last for the designated period, and each side blamed the other for violating it.
Israeli troops pushed into Gaza late Thursday after more than a week of airstrikes failed to halt unrelenting Palestinian rocket fire that has increasingly targeted major Israeli cities. Israel has said the operation is aimed at halting the rockets as well as destroying tunnels that militants have used to stage cross-border raids.
CBC's Sasa Petricic, reporting from Jerusalem, said Friday that as many as 10 Israeli soldiers were reportedly killed when their tank came under attack in Gaza.
He said United Nations Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon was in the region in Qatar meeting with Mideast leaders to try to find an intermediary to broker another ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.
"Hamas so far seems to be the one that has had some pretty tough demands that Israel would not accept in terms of opening borders," Petricic said. "The feeling here is that somebody needs to discuss with both sides to soften their demands so there can be a ceasefire."
13 days of fighting
The military said it has hit more than 2,500 targets in Gaza, including 1,100 rocket launchers, during the 13 days of fighting. It said that some 70 militants were killed and another 13 brought to Israel for questioning.
At least 50 Palestinians were killed on Sunday by Israeli shelling in a Gaza neighbourhood, witnesses and health officials said. (Suhaib Salem/Reuters)
Gaza militants have fired more than 1,760 rockets at Israeli cities since July 8, the military said.
Throughout the night, loud explosions shook Gaza as Israeli flares lit up the sky and fighter jets flew low over the coastal territory.
The Hamas military wing said its fighters exchanged fire with Israeli forces in Shijaiyah and a nearby neighbourhood. The sound of gunfire could be heard from the city center.
In a separate confrontation, Islamic Jihad fighters ambushed Israeli troops near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, the group said, adding that Israeli helicopter gunships had joined the battle.
Hamas seeks non-Egyptian ceasefire negotiator
Hamas last week rejected an Egyptian call on both sides to halt hostilities, saying it first wants guarantees that Israel and Egypt will significantly ease their border blockade of Gaza, which has been ruled by the Islamic militant group since 2007.
Hamas has sought involvement of other countries, such as Qatar, in any ceasefire negotiations. The militant group is deeply distrustful of Egypt's rulers, who last year deposed a Hamas-friendly government in Cairo.
Since the start of Israel-Hamas fighting almost two weeks ago, 420 Palestinians have been killed and 3,000 wounded, according to Gaza Health Ministry official Ashraf al-Kidra. More than one-fourth of the deaths have been reported since the start of the ground offensive late Thursday.
Two Israeli soldiers died in the Gaza fighting late Saturday and early Sunday morning, bringing the Israeli military death toll to five in the three days since ground operations began. Two Israeli civilians have perished from Hamas rocket and mortar attacks on Israeli territory.
Dozens of Israeli soldiers have been wounded since the start of the ground operation, according to Israeli hospitals treating them.
The entrance to a tunnel exposed by the Israeli military is seen on the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border in this March file photo. Israeli soldiers Saturday uncovered about a dozen tunnels, some as deep as 30 metres. (Amir Cohen/Reuters)
Hundreds of residents began fleeing the neighbourhood after daybreak, including a woman in a wheelchair who waved a white flag. Columns of smoke rose from the neighbourhood as the sound of shelling echoed from inside.
A man walking in the street said his son was trapped in the family house and that he needed someone to help rescue him. He then got into an ambulance to reach his house, but tank fire hit nearby and the ambulance quickly turned around to get away.
The bodies of a man and a woman could be seen in the rubble of a house that had been completely destroyed.
Among those killed in Shijaiyah on Sunday was Osama al-Haya, a son of senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Haya. Osama al-Haya's wife and two children, ages four and six, were also killed, Palestinian health officials said.
Some residents tried to find refuge with relatives, while others went to U.N. schools that have been serving as temporary shelters since the start of the fighting.
Some 63,000 Palestinians are already staying in United Nations shelters, according to UNRWA, the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians. The number of people who have fled their homes has more than tripled since the start of Israel's ground operation and the agency said it planned to open more schools.
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