Heaviest bombing of campaign so far continues for second night, with at least 43 killed in air strikes and tank shelling of Jabaliya area of Gaza City
9.38am BST
The Associated Press have a story about members of congress supporting a $225 million missile defence package for Israel.
As much of world watches Gaza war in horror, members of Congress fall over each other to support Israel: http://t.co/DepO2etLQS
Democrats and Republicans in Congress vowed urgent support Tuesday for a $225 million missile defense package for Israel, boosting the likelihood that legislation will clear Congress before lawmakers begin a monthlong vacation at weeks end.
Lets stop playing games, said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., calling the assistance a necessity for the life-or-death struggle Israel faces.
9.34am BST
Channel 4 News journalist Jonathan Miller gives a frank and heartfelt interview to LBC radio. He calls the situation there: The most shocking thing Ive seen in all my years of journalism.
#c4news #Gaza The Writing on the Wall: I want to tweet out again this pic I took on the West Bank. So poignant. http://ift.tt/1s3qbTL
9.14am BST
A update report from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) states that relief operations in Gaza are at breaking point:
UNRWA is working desperately to meet the needs of a growing population of displaced across the Gaza Strip and to prepare for even further displacement. In a number of areas, all available UNRWA schools have already reached or exceeded maximum capacity. In some areas the only option now is for government schools to be utilized as emergency shelters to be managed by local communities and provided with essential food, water, non food items (NFIs) and generators by UNRWA.
UNRWA has launched an emergency flash appeal for US$ 115 million to provide emergency assistance to 150,000 people through its shelters- where food, NFI and psychosocial support are provided- and through health and social service facilities available to those not taking refuge in UNRWA shelters. This funding will also allow UNRWA to start early recovery activities once hostilities cease.
Following the escalation in violence between Gaza and Israel in November 2012 an understanding was reached between Hamas and Israel, mediated by Egypt. 2013 was subsequently the quietest year in a decade, in terms of hostilities between Israel and Gaza. Events in 2014, however, have led to a profound deterioration in the situation.
The Israeli blockade of Gaza entered its 8th year in June 2014 and continues to have a devastating effect as access to markets and peoples movement to and from the Gaza Strip remain severely restricted. The economy and its capacity to create jobs has been devastated, with the majority of the population becoming dependent on humanitarian aid to meet basic needs. The number of Palestine refugees relying on UNRWA for food aid has increased from fewer than 80,000 in 2000 to over 830,000 today.
1.2 million refugees
8 refugee camps
8.59am BST
A time-lapse video from Saudi Arabian television, first tweeted by Buzzfeeds Middle East correspondent, Sheera Frenkel yesterday,appears to show Israeli
Army air strikes destroying a Gaza neighbourhood in an hour.
The footage, reportedly filmed before Saturdays 12-hour ceasefire, begins at 4.02pm GMT and within an hour after repeated air strikes, the buildings are flattened.
Time-lapse video shows air strikes destroying entire Gaza neighbourhood in an hour http://t.co/5Mm64czYbK http://ift.tt/1o2cALI
8.48am BST
The BBC are reporting that a Hamas military commander has rejected suggestions that the organisation is ready for a ceasefire.
In an audio recording, Mohammad Deif, commander of Hamas military wing, said his soldiers were eager for death.
[...]
8.25am BST
Israeli Intelligence Officers Doubt Hamas Involvement In Incident That Sparked Gaza War: http://t.co/rARYOujbY1
An Israeli intelligence officer who works in the West Bank has told a Buzzfeed reporter that the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens on June 12 - which sparked the renewed conflict in Gaza - may not have been order by Hamas. The officer spoke under condition of anonymity, and his identity cannot be confirmed by the Guardian.
That announcement was premature, the intelligence officer said. If there was an order, from any of the senior Hamas leadership in Gaza or abroad, this would be an easier case to investigate. We would have that intelligence data. But there is no data, so we have come to conclude that these men were acting on their own.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told the BBC last week that police believed the killers did not have ties to Hamas in Gaza but did to Hamas in the West Bank. But the Israeli intelligence officer noted that the Shin Bet, Israels internal security agency, and Israeli intelligence are the ones taking the lead on the investigation, not the police.
Like other Israeli military officials, the officer said he was worried that events on the ground had been misrepresented by politicians. Netanyahu has long been pressed by more right-wing elements of his government to address Hamas growing popularity in the West Bank. In the month prior to the kidnapping, Israel had strongly lobbied against Hamas joining together in a unity government with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank a move that brought Hamas into the fold of political life there and could, one day, allow its elected officials to openly campaign in the West Bank. Hamas in the West Bank is fragmented, there are many factions could these teens have broken off and called themselves a separate Hamas faction? Possibly. But that is not the most likely scenario, nor the one we are pursuing, the officer said.
8.10am BST
This mornings shelling comes as a Palestinian delegation are preparing for a trip to Cairo to discuss a temporary humanitarian ceasefire.
The Palestine Liberation Organization, headquartered in the West Bank, said it had received support from Hamas for a 24-hour truce, but did not give details about when that could begin.
8.06am BST
News agency AFP have tweeted a picture of a a Palestinian child in Kamal Edwan hospital, who it says was wounded in an Israeli strike on a UN school in Beit Lahia, Gaza.
A Palestinian child, wounded in an Israeli strike on a UN school in Beit Lahia, Gaza, lies in Kamal Edwan hospital http://ift.tt/1xxwEH9
7.52am BST
At least 15 Palestinians have been killed and about 90 were injured early this morning when a UN school sheltering people was hit by shells.
My colleague Harriet Sherwood has written this story:
Gaza health officials said at least 43 people died in intense air strikes and tank shelling of Jabaliya, a neighbourhood of Gaza City. The death toll included the people at the school who had fled their own homes. Bombardment from Israeli gunboats continued without respite for much of the night.
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