NEWS

Gaza Strip: The deadliest day since the beginning of Israel's Gaza offensive (videos)

Gaza Strip: The deadliest day since the beginning of Israel's Gaza offensive (videos)

The emergency services in the Gaza Strip have announced Monday morning that another 20 Palestinians were killed during yesterday's most deadly day of the beginning of the conflict in the Gaza Strip.

The representative of the Palestinian emergency services Ashraf al-Kountra, revised previous estimate of the number of victims, increasing the death toll to 73 since Sunday morning, after the outbreak of the bloodiest conflicts in Satzagia, a site located between the city of Gaza and the Israeli border.

From the conflict in this region there are at least 4,000 Palestinians wounded, told to AFP, the same representative.

Now, the total number of Palestinians killed, since July 8 when started the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip, have reached 502 dead.



The Israeli army, in turn, announced the death of 13 soldiers, bringing the total number of casualties in the ranks of the army in 18 soldiers.

The UN Security Council expressed its "deep concern" about the growing number of casualties in the war in the Gaza Strip and reiterated his call for "an immediate cessation of fire".

In a statement that was read by the Chairman of the Council, after a two-hour, closed-door meeting, the 15 Member States "seek respect for international humanitarian law, specifically as regards the protection of civilians."

"The members of the Security Council express serious concern about the growing number of victims. Members of the Security Council called for an immediate cessation of hostilities," he told to reporters the ambassador of Rwanda, Eugene Gasana.

The Security Council meeting was held at the request of Jordan, after the death of 60 Palestinians and 13 Israeli soldiers in the bombing of the district Setzagia yesterday, the bloodiest day of the Israeli attack.

"The members of the Security Council called for respect for international humanitarian standards, including those relating to the safety of civilians," he said, Gasana. "The members of the Security Council stressed the need to improve the situation in the humanitarian view and through humanitarian ceasefire".

The general secretary of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, who is in the Middle East by promoting a ceasefire, condemned the events of Setzagia as "heinous act" and called for an immediate ceasefire.

Ban was yesterday in Qatar and will then visit Cairo, Jerusalem and Ramallah.

On 12 July, the Security Council called for a ceasefire between Israelis and Palestinians and expressed serious concern about the protection of civilians on both sides. The United States, a close ally of Israel, has agreed to issue the notice, when the group of Arab countries, threatened to proceed in a similar decision.