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Ceasefire collapses; Israeli shelling kills 50 in Gaza
The humanitarian ceasefire - brokered by the US and the UN to end more than three weeks of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip - collapsed just two hours after it began on Friday morning.
- The ceasefire which started on Friday morning ends in just two hours
- Two Israeli soldiers killed and one is reportedly abducted
Gaza/Jerusalem: Massive Israeli shelling killed at least 50 people in the Hamas-ruled Gaza following the collapse of a 72-hour ceasefire shortly after it began on Friday, while two of its soldiers were killed and another was believed to have been abducted by Palestinian militant groups.
The humanitarian ceasefire - brokered by the US and the UN to end more than three weeks of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip - collapsed just two hours after it began on Friday morning.
At least 50 people were killed and more than 200 injured in massive Israeli artillery shelling in the southern Rafah since this morning, taking the Palestinian death toll to 1,509, mostly civilians, Palestinian health ministry said.
The attacks have injured more than 7,000 Palestinians. The 1,509 Palestinian toll in the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza surpassed that of Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009 as the conflict entered its 25th day on Friday.
According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, 1,417 Palestinians were killed during Operation Cast Lead, which was the longest conflict between the two sides lasting 22 days, before the current fighting began. Meanwhile, Israeli army said two of its soldiers were killed and a third one may have been abducted by militants in the southern Gaza Strip today, raising the death count to 63 soldiers, including two Indian-origin, as compared to 10 in 2008-09. Nearly 400 soldiers have been injured.
Three Israeli civilians and a Thai national also died in rocket and mortar attacks. "Initial indications suggest that a soldier has been abducted by terrorists in an incident where terrorists breached the ceasefire," Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) spokesman Lt Col Peter Lerner told reporters.
Hamas, which rules the narrow coastal strip, neither confirmed nor denied the abduction of the Israeli soldier. But it said Israel's announcement of the abduction was simply an excuse to "justify Israel's retreat from the truce." Israel and Hamas have blamed each other for the collapse of the fragile ceasefire.
