Gaza

The Israeli Defence Forces said that its aerial assault and artillery bombardment continued overnight, hitting targets including the house of a Hamas commander in Khan Younis, an arms factory and rocket launchers. The IDF said that the tunnels were built over five years and allowed Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, to move ammunition, fighters and food within the coastal strip.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said 219 Palestinians, including 63 children, were killed in Gaza. In the West Bank, 25 Palestinian deaths were tallied, including four children. Israeli sources reported 12 people killed, including two children and a soldier. Thousands of people are injured, mainly in the West Bank and in Gaza, Xinhua reported.

About 460 of the rockets never made it across the border and went down in Gaza territory, dpa news agency quoted the military as saying. The Iron Dome missile defence system had an interception rate of about 90 per cent, it said. There were initially no current figures on the number of attacks by Israel in the Gaza Strip this morning.

"I am appalled by the increasingly large numbers of Palestinian civilian casualties, including many women and children, from Israeli strikes in Gaza. I also deplore Israeli fatalities from rockets launched from Gaza," he said. The fighting risks dragging Palestinians and Israelis into a spiral of violence with devastating consequences for both communities and for the entire region, he said.

According to witnesses and local sources, among the targets on Saturday was the house of Yehya Sinwar, leader of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the Gaza Strip, reports Xinhua news agency. There was no more information about the Hamas chief, while informed sources said he wasn't home when the building was bombed.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), citing its partners, reported on Friday that civilian infrastructure damage in the Gaza Strip includes more than 20 schools, reports Xinhua news agency. An estimated 2 million people live in Gaza and about 3 million more live in the West Bank.

Zhang Jun, China's Permanent Representative to the UN, tweeted that the meeting will be held at 10 a.m. on Sunday, reports Xinhua news agency. "China is deeply concerned about the escalation of tensions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. UNSC should act now and send a strong message. Regret a Friday meeting was blocked by one member," said the tweet.

Meanwhile, combat troops have moved along the fence separating between the Gaza Strip and Israel amid "various stages of preparing ground operations", Jonathan Conricus, a spokesman with the Israel Defense Forces, told reporters. "The Chief of Staff is inspecting those preparations and providing guidance," he said.

Around 400 went down over Gaza, DPA news agency quoted military spokesman Jonathan Conricus as saying. The success rate of Israel's Iron Dome aerial defence system continues to average around 90 per cent at intercepting rockets, he added. Seven people have died in Israel since the rocket launches began on Monday - six civilians and one soldier.

In an interview with the local media on Wednesday, Hamas spokesman in Gaza Fawzi Barhoum also denied reports that a high-ranking Egyptian security delegation was expected to arrive in Gaza as part of the efforts to reach a ceasefire between Israel and the militant groups in the coastal enclave, reports Xinhua news agency.