Gaza City : At least eight children were among 10 people killed at a Gaza City refugee camp, medics said, with witnesses saying several missiles were fired from an F16. But the Israeli army denied any attack on the camp, accusing Palestinian militants of firing rockets at Israel which apparently misfired.
Emergency services spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said 10 people had been killed, among them eight children who had been playing in the beachfront Shati refugee camp. He said another 46 were injured, among them many children. Local residents told AFP that several missiles were fired at a tuktuk motorized rickshaw near a children’s playground. “An F16 fired five rockets at a street in Shati camp where children were playing, killing some of them and injuring many more,” one told AFP.
Inside Shifa hospital, an AFP correspondent saw the bodies of at least seven children from the blast at the camp, with more bodies being brought in on bloodied stretchers. They were unloaded and taken directly to the mortuary, he said. Earlier in the day Israeli jets struck three sites in Gaza after a rocket was launched at Israel, the military said, disrupting a relative lull in the war-torn territory at the start of a major Muslim holiday. The strikes followed an almost 12-hour pause in fighting and came as international efforts intensified to end the three-week war. The UN called for an “immediate” ceasefire in the conflict that has already killed over 1,060 Palestinians.
As Muslims began celebrating the Eid Al-Fitr holiday on Monday that marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, there was fear and mourning instead of holiday cheer in the Gaza Strip. In New York, an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council called for “an immediate and unconditional humanitarian ceasefire.” And while it was the Council’s strongest statement yet on the Gaza war, it was not a resolution and therefore not binding. Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour did not hide his disappointment. He said the Council should have adopted a strong and legally binding resolution a long time ago demanding an immediate halt to Israel’s “aggression,” providing the Palestinians with protection and lifting the siege in the Gaza Strip so goods and people can move freely. Meanwhile, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal has again demanded that Israel ends its occupation of Palestinian land. Meshaal tells CBS News in an interview broadcast Monday that he believes the world hasn’t taken an even-handed view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.