Gaza death toll passes 100 as truce efforts build

Published on Nov 20, 2012

Pakistani children from the group Pasban light oil lamps during a vigil for child victims who were killed in air strikes by Israeli forces on Gaza, in Karachi on November 19, 2012. -- PHOTO: AFP

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) - Israeli strikes killed 30 Palestinians on Monday, taking the Gaza death toll to 107 as UN chief Ban Ki Moon joined efforts to end the worst violence in four years and Israel's inner circle of ministers mulled their next move.

As the violence raged for a sixth day, an Israeli missile killed a senior Islamic Jihad militant in a Gaza City tower housing Palestinian and international media, the second time in as many days it has been targeted.

With Mr Ban in Cairo pushing for a ceasefire, Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal said his movement was committed to efforts to secure a truce, but insisted that Israel must lift its six-year blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Terrified and desperate, many Gaza families have fled their homes, some seeking haven in the south which has seen fewer strikes. But they know nowhere is safe.

"My son Mohammed refuses to eat. He follows me everywhere because he's so scared and asks me every 10 minutes when we're going to die," said Umm Jihad, 37.

Mourners flocked to the funeral of nine members of one family killed in a weekend strike on a Gaza City home, the tiny bodies of the five children carried through the streets wrapped in Palestinian flags.

As the overall death toll in Gaza hit 107, with another 30 people killed on Monday making it the bloodiest day so far, the Israeli army said that 42 rockets had struck Israel and another 19 had been intercepted by the Iron Dome defence system.

To date, the military has struck more than 1,350 targets in Gaza, and 640 rockets have hit southern Israel while another 324 have been intercepted.

The violence, coming ahead of an Israeli general election on Jan 22, raised the spectre of a broader Israeli military campaign like its 22-day Operation Cast Lead, launched at the end of December 2008.

Analysts say the Israeli leadership appears satisfied with the success of Operation Pillar of Defence and that it could be ready for a ceasefire.

But the Jewish state has also signalled a readiness to expand the operation.

Ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's inner circle - the Forum of Nine - were reportedly in talks over whether to agree to a ceasefire or expand the air campaign into a wider ground operation.

Israeli public radio said the meeting late Monday would touch on an Egyptian ceasefire proposal that emerged following a full day of indirect negotiations in Cairo between Israeli officials and Palestinian representatives.

The report said Israel wanted to see a 24- to 48-hour truce take effect that could then be used to negotiate the finer details of a full ceasefire.

The latest negotiations aimed at ending the conflict, conducted behind closed doors in Cairo, ended without agreement. But all sides have expressed a willingness to engage in more talks.

The UN chief flew to Egypt "to add his diplomatic weight to these efforts, which are considerable and extremely important," his spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

As Russia accused the United States of seeking to "filibuster" a UN Security Council statement on Gaza amid prolonged talks by the 15-nation body, Ban was to meet Egypt's Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr, and President Mohamed Morsi and Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi on Tuesday, Mr Nesirky said.

He will then go to Jerusalem to see Israeli leaders but has no plan to go to Gaza.

The League's Arabi is due in Gaza on Tuesday, accompanied by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and several Arab top diplomats, in the latest in a series of visits that have eased the long diplomatic isolation of the territory's Hamas rulers.

Israel was also seeking a ceasefire, with Mr Netanyahu himself having "called the US, Europe and Egypt asking for a truce," said Mr Meshaal.

"We are not against a calming, but we want our demands... to end the thuggery, to end the aggression and to lift the blockade," he said.

An Egyptian official who spoke to AFP before Meshaal's statement reported "encouraging signs." "I hope, that maybe by the end of the day, we receive a final signal of what may be achieved to stop hostilities," he said.

"Both sides are saying a ceasefire is important and that there should be guarantees, but these guarantees are different." Hamas is also understood to be seeking guarantees Israel will stop its targeted killings, like the one which killed a top military commander on Wednesday, sparking the current hostilities.

Israel has its own demands, with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman insisting "the first and absolute condition for a truce is stopping all fire from Gaza."

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