"Hamas have fired more than 2,450 rockets towards Israel""
Israel said lives of more than 6 million Israelis have been at risk.
"Israel wants an end to this conflict; Israel wants an end to violence. Israelis and Palestinians deserve peace and security. Israel’s objective was and remains to restore sustained quiet and security for the people of Israel by eliminating rockets, shutting down Hamas terror tunnels and demilitarizing Gaza. Israel is not fighting the Palestinian people – Israel is fighting cruel, murderous terrorism," Embassy of Israel in New Delhi said in a statement on Monday.
"Hamas has failed to honor three humanitarian ceasefires on July 26th, 27th and 28th in addition to one that was declared by the Hamas themselves, proving again that its interests are not in protecting civilians but instead are on furthering their agenda of fear and hate," read the Embassy statement.
Twice in recent days, stores of Hamas rockets, intended to be used against Israel, were discovered in UNRWA schools. UNRWA admitted that rockets were found in the schools. The UN Secretary-General condemned this, stating that Hamas turns the schools into military targets, thus endangering the people staying there. This use of human shields is cynical, grotesque and inhuman. The world should be outraged by Hamas' use of human shields in Gaza. As shown in this video, Hamas is firing rockets from populated area, cemeteries, schools etc," it said.
It said, "Despite the fact that Hamas has fired thousands of rockets at Israel, the border crossings through which goods travel from Israel to Gaza remain open. Since the beginning of the Operation Protective Edge, more than 1154 trucks carrying fuels, food, medical & general supplies have crossed into Gaza. Israel continues to operate a field hospital to treat wounded Gazans and are working with the Red Crescent in order to treat wounded Palestinians from the Gaza Strip."
Israel said a 27-year-old Indian-origin soldier in the Israeli Army died on Saturday night after he was hit by a mortar shell near the Gaza strip.
"Sergeant First Class Barak Refael Degorker was with a group of other soldiers in an assembly zone at the time of the incident. He belonged to the Bene- Israel community, which has its origin in the Mumbai region. May his soul rest in peace," read the statement.
Meanwhile, welcoming the broadly observed 12-hour humanitarian pause in the Gaza conflict, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon renewed his appeal to all parties to declare a week-long ceasefire as a prelude to restarting political negotiations.
A statement issued on Saturday by Ban's spokesperson noted that there were countless images of Gazans trying to return to their daily lives while taking care of their wounded and attending to their dead during the pause, which ended on Saturday.
“These images make it clear that we owe to the people of both Israel and Gaza our renewed effort to consolidate this pause in fighting into a more sustainable ceasefire,” said the statement.
“The Secretary-General therefore urgently appeals once again to all parties to declare a seven-day humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza as a prelude to renewing a political process as the only way of achieving a durable peace,” it said, adding that he strongly urged the parties, at the very minimum, to extend the humanitarian pause.
At least 10 people were killed in an explosion in Gaza City on Monday, media reports said.
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