Palestinian death count
Eight Palestinians have died after the Israeli Air Force bombed the home of a leading Palestinian lawmaker on Sunday. It was the deadliest strike since Israel began bombing Gaza last week.
The home belonged to Khalil al-Haya – a Hamas representative in the Palestinian parliament. Seven of his relatives died including three of his brothers. According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the bombing marked the first time in two years that an Israeli air strike targeted a member of Hamas’ political wing. Israel has killed at least 40 Palestinians in Gaza since last week. Earlier today Israel bombed the Jebaliya refugee camp killing four members of Islamic Jihad. Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti condemned Israel’s actions.
* Mustafa Barghouti:
“This Israeli government has no shame. What they are doing in Gaza is killing people by airplanes, by F-16 jet fighters, and what they do here is also killing people by destroying their economy.”
Meanwhile Hamas is continuing to fire crude rockets into southern Israel. Four rockets were reportedly launched on Monday morning. Israel’s Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog defended Israel’s escalating use of violence.
* Isaac Herzog:
“We cannot accept the fact that women, children, and Israeli citizens are attacked by terrorists, day-in, day-out by missiles from Gaza, and the world is expecting us not to do anything. It is impossible, and we will defend our citizens forcefully.”
The Times of London reports Israel might be preparing another ground invasion of Gaza. Three Israeli divisions comprising 20,000 troops are on standby near the Gaza border ready for a full-scale invasion.
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