Gaza dead toll reaches 127

Gaza City: Israel pounded Gaza for a fifth day on Saturday with air strikes and artillery, killing 22 Palestinians as Hamas defiantly kept up its rocket fire into the Jewish state.

Both sides brushed off international calls for a truce and Israel kept up its buildup of troops and armour on the Gaza border in preparation for a possible ground invasion.

Saturday’s strikes brought the death toll since the Tuesday start of Israel’s Operation Protective Edge to 127.

Vowing not to bow under international pressures, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel “will act with all power” in its offensive to stop rocket attacks on its land from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

US President Barack Obama had called Mr  Netanyahu on Friday and Washington offered to use its influence in the Middle East to bring a return to calm. “No terrorist target in Gaza is immune,” he said.

Despite international concern, truce efforts have been unsuccessful, according to Egypt, which has been key in mediating previous ceasefires between Hamas and Israel. “Egypt has communicated with all sides to halt violence against civilians and called on them to continue with the truce agreement signed in November 2012,” the foreign ministry said. Former British PM Tony Blair, the envoy for the Quartet of West Asia diplomatic players, flew into Cairo for talks on ending the violence.

Meanwhile, Hamas leaders issued a blunt warning to Israel against invading the Gaza Strip by promising that it would exploit any ground incursion to kidnap Israeli soldiers. About 33,000 Israeli  reservists are poised near the Gaza frontier for an invasion order.