UN Security Council in emergency session as Gaza crisis escalates

GAZA/JERUSALEM - Israeli military operation in Gaza escalated during the weekend with no signs of ceasefire reached between Israel and Palestine, raising the death toll to at least 471 and injuries to more than 3,040 on the Palestinian side.

Israel continued its air strike in Gaza early monday, killing two Palestinians.

The strike followed Israel's artillery bombing on the most densely populated neighborhood of Sheja'eya in eastern Gaza city on Sunday, killing more than 100 Palestinians in a single day, the bloodiest ever since Israel launched its offensive in Gaza nearly two weeks ago.

Survivors from the stricken area, which is less than two km from the borders with Israel, said right after they had their Ramadan breakfast on Saturday evening, tank shells showered the neighborhood.

Rescue teams of the International Committee of the Red Cross as well as the Red Crescent Society were only able to get into the neighborhood to evacuate the victims after a two-hour humanitarian pause was accepted by both Hamas and Israel on Sunday afternoon.

On the Israeli side, one civilian and 13 Israelis have been killed since the eruption of violence. An Israeli soldier, who was kidnapped by Hamas militants, is still held captive in Gaza.

A Hamas armed wing has claimed responsibility for killing 13 Israeli soldiers during an ambush in Attufah neighborhood in southern Gaza earlier Sunday.

NO TRUCE YET

Efforts for a truce between Israel and Hamas-led Gaza militants are still on the way, but so far nothing positive has been achieved after Hamas rejected an Egypt-brokered ceasefire proposal a few days ago.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday called on the UN Security Council to hold an emergency session to discuss Israel's ongoing large-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip.

"The failure of the Security Council to make a decision on ending the Israeli aggression and the massacres against our people doesn't relieve it from its responsibility in accordance with the international law," Abbas said in a televised speech. "Therefore, I'm calling on the Security Council to hold another emergency session tonight."

Abbas said that the situation in Gaza is "unbearable," calling on the international community to carry its responsibility at this very critical moment "for an immediate protection of our people."

For the past few days, Abbas has been visiting several cities including Cairo, Ankara and Doha trying to negotiate a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israeli officials are in contact with "various factors" in the region for a possible ceasefire agreement to end the 13-day campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

"We are constantly in contact with various factors in the region, as well as the Palestinian Authority, on all levels," Netanyahu said at a press conference in Tel Aviv on Sunday evening.

"This conflict will be resolved through either a diplomatic solution, a military solution or both combined, and we are operating on all fronts," Netanyahu said, adding that Abbas "could be part of the solution" if he understands that Hamas "cannot be a part of a peace process."

Regarding Israel's ground incursion in the Gaza Strip that began on late Thursday, Netanyahu said that Israel has the support of the United States, Britain, Canada, France and Germany. But he did not specify how long the operation will continue.