Gaza City: World efforts to broker a ceasefire in war-torn Gaza gathered pace Monday as Israel pressed a blistering 14-day assault on the enclave, pushing the death toll to Palestinian 548.
Seven Israeli soldiers were killed on Monday during clashes with Palestinian militants, the Israeli military said, lifting the Army death toll to 25 in two weeks of fighting around the Gaza Strip.
The Army did not provide any further details.
As Washington and the United Nations demanded an “immediate ceasefire” in the battered Palestinian enclave, there was no let up in the Israeli offensive with another 31 Gazans killed in a series of strikes.
And Israel said troops killed 10 Hamas militants after they sneaked over the border through a network of tunnels that the army has been trying to destroy in an intensive four-day ground operation.
With growing concern over the number of civilian deaths, UN chief Ban Ki-moon arrived in Cairo for top-level talks on ending the hostilities, with US secretary of state John Kerry also expected to fly in later Monday.
Mr Kerry is to push for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza when he arrives later Monday in Cairo, President Barack Obama said.
“Israel has already done significant damage to Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure in Gaza,” Mr Obama said in a statement at the White House, adding he had sent his top diplomat to the region to “push for an immediate cessation of hostilities.”
The US on Monday also confirmed that two Americans who were soldiers with the Israel Defence Force have been killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip.
