At least twelve people were killed Saturday in
airstrikes that hit a rehabilitation center for
the disabled in Gaza, a mosque and other
targets in the area, according to Palestinian
medics. It comes as the death toll from
Israel's bombardment of the Palestinian
enclave rose to 135.
Three patients and a nurse were killed
overnight in the explosion on the
rehabilitation center in Jebaliya, as Israel's
campaign entered its fifth day. Video footage
of the aftermath of the attack showed victims
being taken to hospital for injuries, including
severe burns.
Fatalities from the offensive in Gaza now
include 88 civilians, 30 of which are
children, according to the United Nations .
More than 1,000 people have been injured in
air strikes in five days of shelling, according
to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Meanwhile, Israel said 680 rockets had been
fired from Gaza into Israel since Tuesday,
injuring nine Israelis. On Saturday, a missile
seriously wounded one Israeli and injured
another seven when it hit a fuel tanker at a
service station in Ashdod, 20 miles north of
Gaza.
The rocket salvoes from the enclave, some
striking more than 60 miles from Gaza, have
so far resulted in no fatalities, due in part to
interceptions by Israel's partly-U.S. funded
Iron Dome aerial defense system. The Israeli
army said that it had struck a total of 1,160
targets since the latest round of hostilities
began earlier this week.
Alongside the dead from the rehabilitation
center in Jabaliya, there were also reports of
casualties at a separate charitable
association for the disabled in Beit Lahiya,
resulting from the latest raid.
At least two people killed and four critically
wounded in the Beit Lahiya explosion,
according to the AFP news agency.
Meanwhile people were killed in the eastern
Tufah area of Gaza City, and three in western
Gaza City, it was reported.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said she
was checking for details on why the Beit
Lahiya center was targeted.
A mosque in Al-Nuseirat, in central Gaza,
was also destroyed in the overnight raids.
Graffiti scrawled on one of the mosque's
blasted walls read, "We will prevail despite
your arrogance, Netanyahu."
The Israeli military said the mosque housed a
weapons cache.
The United Nations Security Council,
meanwhile, called for a cease-fire Saturday in
the hostilities centered on Gaza. A council
statement approved by all 15 members calls
for de-escalation of the violence, restoration
of calm and a resumption of direct
negotiations between Israel and the
Palestinians aimed at achieving a
comprehensive peace agreement based on a
two-state solution.
The press statement, which is not legally
binding but reflects international opinion,
expresses "serious concern regarding the
crisis related to Gaza and the protection and
welfare of civilians on both sides." It calls for
respect for international humanitarian law,
including the protection of civilians.
The U.N. and a handful of consulates are
preparing for an exodus of 800 dual- and
foreign-nationals from 21 countries on
Sunday morning through the Erez Crossing at
the northern end of the Gaza strip, according
to a U.N. official.
On Saturday, Israel's army chief, Lieutenant-
General Benny Gantz, said his forces were
ready to act as needed — hinting at
readiness to send tanks and ground troops
across the barbed-wire boundary into Gaza,
as Israel last did for two weeks in early 2009.
Some 20,000 reservists have already been
mobilized for a possible thrust into Gaza, the
army said.
"We are in the midst of an assault and we
are prepared to expand it as much as is
required, to wherever is required,
with whatever force will be required and for
as long as will be required," Gantz told
reporters.
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said late on Friday that he would
continue the military campaign until he
achieved his goal.
"No international pressure will prevent us
acting with all our force against a terror
organization that is calling for our
destruction,” he said. “We will continue to
forcefully attack anyone who is trying to hurt
us,” he told reporters in Tel Aviv on Friday, a
day after a phone call with U.S. President
Barack Obama about the worst flare-up in
Israeli-Palestinian violence in almost two
years.
"No terrorist target in Gaza is immune," he
added.
Washington affirmed Israel's right to defend
itself in a statement from the Pentagon on
Friday. But Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel
told Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon
he was concerned "about the risk of further
escalation and emphasized the need for all
sides to do everything they can to
protect civilian lives and restore calm," a
Pentagon statement said.
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