Israeli air strikes killed 18 Palestinians on Monday, hiking the Gaza death toll to 95 as global efforts to broker a truce to end the worst violence in four years gathered pace.
The latest bloodshed in the densely populated enclave came after a night of earth-rattling raids, one of them leveling a police station, and sustained fire from Israeli navy ships. As the violence raged for a sixth day, ceasefire efforts gathered steam, with Hamas officials in Cairo saying Egyptian-led talks with Israel were “positive” but now focused on the need to guarantee any truce. After a strike on a Gaza City home killed a family of nine on Sunday, the bloodiest day yet of the conflict with 29 killed, angry mourners flocked to the funeral of the five children and four adults whose bodies were carried through streets wrapped in Palestinian flags. “Do children fire rockets?” shouted a man through a loudspeaker, as the crowd roared back: “No!” The violence, which comes as Israel gears up for a general election on January 22, raised the spectre of a broader Israeli military campaign like its 22-day Operation Cast Lead, launched in December 2008. Analysts say Israel’s leadership appears satisfied with its latest operation – dubbed Pillar of Defence – and that it could be ready for a ceasefire. But the Jewish state has signaled it is ready to expand the operation, while Gaza’s rulers Hamas may feel emboldened after securing the support of the recently-installed governments of Egypt and Tunisia. The overall death toll from the Israeli raids on the Palestinian territory hit 95 on Monday after an air strike on car in northern Gaza and as four people died of injuries suffered in earlier raids. The Israeli army said that after a lull overnight, 33 rockets have been fired so far on Monday and another four intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system. So far, the Israeli military has struck more than 1,350 targets in Gaza, and 570 rockets have stuck southern Israel while another 302 were intercepted.