Israel Resumes Assault On Gaza As Truce Ends

The Israeli army has relaunched strikes on Gaza following the expiration of a seven-hour partial humanitarian truce.

Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner said operations, including airstrikes, against terrorist infrastructures in Gaza were resuming.

As the ceasefire came to an end, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again vowed to keep up the military offensive until long-term “quiet and security is established for the citizens of Israel”.

More than 1,880 Palestinians and 64 Israeli soldiers have lost their lives in the almost four-week conflict. Two Israeli civilians and a Thai labourer working in Israel have also died.

Prime Minister David Cameron has said the Government is also urgently looking into reports a British aid worker was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday in the southern city of Rafah.

Mr Cameron said: “I’m extremely concerned about these reports and we are doing everything we can to get to the bottom (of them) and find out exactly what has happened.”

Although violence slowed during Monday’s ceasefire, further fatalities were reported, with both sides accusing each other of launching attacks.

Palestinian medics said three people, including an eight-year-old girl, were killed in a strike on a house in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. Another 30 people were injured.

Israel said it was looking into the attack, which reportedly took place minutes after the truce began, but claimed at least four rockets had been fired from Gaza into Israel.

The Israeli military had pledged to hold fire from 10am to 5pm (8am to 3pm UK time) to permit the transport of aid and allow displaced Palestinians to return to their homes.

However it warned it would hit back if attacked during the break and said troops would fight on in areas of Rafah.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the pause, the sixth attempt at a humanitarian truce, was announced in “an attempt to divert attention from Israeli massacres”.

It followed widespread international condemnation over a third attack on a UN-run school sheltering Palestinians .

Sunday’s shelling of the school in Rafah left 10 civilians dead and wounded another 30.

The Israeli military confirmed it had fired on a terrorist target in the vicinity of the school and was “reviewing the consequences of this strike”.

The United Nations said Israel was “repeatedly informed of the location of these sites” and that it was a “moral outrage and a criminal act”.

Meanwhile French President Francois Hollande called for immediate action to put an end to “massacres” in Gaza. 

Palestinian teenager Farah Baker has been tweeting about what it’s like to live in Gaza throughout the conflict.

The 16-year-old’s emotional account of life in the territory has seen her gain almost 150,000 followers and today she conducted a live Twitter chat with Sky News .

The views expressed were those of Farah, not Sky News. Stay logged on to see a similar chat with a young Israeli to get their perspective soon.

Meanwhile, the driver of a digger was shot dead after driving into a bus in Jerusalem , killing one person. Israel described it as a “terrorist attack”.

Israel Resumes Assault On Gaza As Truce Ends