Israel presses blistering attack on Gaza; toll 558

The toll in the ongoing Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip rose to 558 on Monday, a day which saw a hospital being shelled and 10 Palestinian militants trying to infiltrate Israel being killed.

A new Israeli airstrike on a building in the centre of Gaza city on Monday afternoon killed 11 Palestinians, including four children, Xinhua reported citing medics and witnesses.

Ashraf al-Qedra, Gaza health ministry spokesman, told reporters that Israeli war jets struck a house in Remal neighbourhood in Gaza city centre which killed eight residents, including four children.

Three more civilians were killed in an Israeli tank shelling on a house in Sheja’eya neighbourhood in eastern Gaza city, al-Qedra said, adding that the 11 bodies in the two attacks were brought to Shifa Hospital.

Earlier on Monday, Israeli army artillery shelled a hospital in the central Gaza Strip, killing four Palestinians and wounding 50 others, most of them paramedics.

Al-Qedra said that the al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Ballah was hit by several artillery shells fired from the Israeli tanks stationed near the eastern borders between the central Gaza Strip and Israel.

“Four people were killed and 50 wounded, most of whom are paramedics, nurses and civilians, in the Israeli tank shelling on the hospital,” al-Qedra told reporters.

Hamas armed wing al-Qassam Brigades said that gun battles on the ground continued in northern, eastern and central Gaza Strip. It also said that it fired more rockets into northern, central and southern Israel.

The health ministry in Gaza said in an email press statement that the toll rose to 558 and more than 3,200 injured since the beginning of the Israeli offensive on Gaza on July 8.