GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Palestinian civilian death toll mounted Monday as Israeli aircraft struck densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip in a campaign to quell militant rocket fire menacing nearly half of Israel's population.

An overnight airstrike on two houses belonging to an extended clan in Gaza City killed two children and two adults, and injured 42 people, said Gaza heath official Ashraf al-Kidra.

(SCROLL DOWN FOR LIVE UPDATES)

Shortly after, Israeli aircraft bombarded the remains of the former national security compound in Gaza City. Flying shrapnel killed one child and wounded others living nearby, al-Kidra said. Five farmers were killed in two separate strikes, al-Kidra said, including three who had been identified earlier by Hamas security officials as Islamic Jihad fighters.

Civilian casualties began to shoot up on Sunday, after Israel said it was stepping up attacks on the homes of suspected Hamas activists. After that warning, an Israeli missile flatted a two-story house in a residential area of Gaza City, killing at least 11 civilians, most of them women and children.

It remained unclear who the target of that missile attack was. However, the new tactic ushered in a new and risky phase of the operation, given the likelihood of civilian casualties in the crowded territory of 1.6 million Palestinians. The rising civilian toll was also likely to intensify pressure on Israel to end the fighting. Hundreds of civilian casualties in an Israeli offensive in Gaza four years ago led to fierce international condemnation of Israel.

In all, 87 Palestinians, including 50 civilians, have been killed in the six-day onslaught and 720 have been wounded.

Three Israeli civilians have died from Palestinian rocket fire and dozens have been wounded. An Israeli rocket-defense system has intercepted hundreds of rockets bound for populated areas.

Monday's air assault in Gaza City reduced two houses to rubble on either side of a street where residents stepped over piles of cinderblocks and twisted metal. Relatives said Ahed Kitati, 38, had rushed out after a warning missile was fired to try to hustle people to safety. But he was fatally struck by a falling cinderblock, leaving behind a pregnant wife, five young daughters and a son, they said.

One of his daughters, Aya Kitati, clutched a black jacket, saying she was freezing, even though the weather was mild. "We were sleeping, and then we heard the sound of the bombs," she said in a whisper, then broke down sobbing.

Ahed's brother, Jawad Kitati, said he plucked the lifeless body of a 2-year-old relative from the street and carried him to an ambulance. Blood stains smeared his jacket sleeve.

Another clan member, Haitham Abu Zour, 24, woke up to the sound of the warning strike and hid in a stairwell. He emerged to find his wife dead and his two infant children buried under the debris, but safe.

Clan elder Mohammed Azzam, 61, denied that anyone in his family had any connections to Hamas.

"The Jews are liars," he said. "No matter how much they pressure our people, we will not withdraw our support for Hamas."

Israel launched the current offensive last Wednesday after months of intensifying rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, which continued despite the strikes. Overnight, the military said, aircraft targeted about 80 militant sites, including underground rocket-launching sites, smuggling tunnels and training bases, as well as command posts and weapons storage facilities located in buildings owned by militant commanders, the military said in a release. Aircraft and gunboats joined forces to attack Hamas police headquarters, and Palestinian rocket squads were struck as they prepared to fire, the release said.

In all, 1,350 targets in the Gaza Strip have been struck since the Israeli operation began on Wednesday. However, military activity over the past two nights has dropped off as targets change and international efforts to wrest a cease-fire plod ahead.

Israel and Hamas have put forth widely divergent conditions for a truce. But failure to end the fighting threatens to touch off an Israeli ground invasion, for which thousands of soldiers, backed by tanks and armored vehicles, have already been mobilized and dispatched to Gaza's border.

President Barack Obama said he was in touch with players across the region in hopes of halting the fighting. While defending Israel's right to defend itself against the rocket fire, he also warned of the risks the Jewish state would take if it were to expand its air assault into a ground war.

"If we see a further escalation of the situation in Gaza, the likelihood of us getting back on any kind of peace track that leads to a two-state solution is going to be pushed off way into the future," Obama said.

Related on HuffPost:

Loading Slideshow...
  • People look at a wreckage of the car in which was killed Ahmed Jabari, head of the Hamas military wing in Gaza City, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. The Israeli military said its assassination of the Hamas military commander marks the beginning of an operation against Gaza militants. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

  • People look at a wreckage of the car in which was killed Ahmed Jabari, head of the Hamas military wing in Gaza City, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

  • People look at a wreckage of the car in which was killed Ahmed Jabari, head of the Hamas military wing in Gaza City, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

  • In this Sunday, March 11, 2012 file photo, a rocket is launched from the Israeli anti-missile system known as "Iron Dome" in order to intercept a rocket fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip in Ashdod, Israel. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, file)

  • Ahmed Jabari

    Palestinian security forces wheel into a hospital the body of Ahmed Jabari, head of the Hamas military wing, in Gaza City, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

  • Ahmed Jabari

    Palestinian security forces wheel into a hospital the body of Ahmed Jabari, head of the Hamas military wing, in Gaza City, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

  • Israelis soldiers run to a rocket shelter as a siren sounds signaling an attack coming from the nearby Gaza Strip in Neva settlement, near the Israel-Egypt border, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

  • Palestinian men react at hospital after the body of Ahmed Jabari, head of the Hamas military wing, was brought, in Gaza City, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

  • Israeli soldiers and civilians run to a rocket shelter as a siren sounds signaling an attack coming from the nearby Gaza Strip in Neva settlement, near the Israel-Egypt border, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

  • Columns of smoke rise following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. Palestinian witnesses say Israeli airstrikes have hit a series of targets across Gaza City, shortly after the assassination of the top Hamas commander. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

  • Columns of smoke rise following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

  • Columns of smoke rise following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

  • Columns of smoke rise following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

  • People look at a wreckage of the car in which was killed Ahmed Jabari, head of the Hamas military wing in Gaza City, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

  • People gather around a wreckage of the car in which was killed Ahmed Jabari, head of the Hamas military wing in Gaza City, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

  • Palestinian youths look inside a building where the body of Ahmaed Jaabari, head of the military wing of the Hamas movement, the Ezzedin Qassam Brigades, was brought to after the car he was riding was hit by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on November 14, 2012. (MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images)

  • Smoke rises following an Israeli air strike in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, on November 14, 2012. (SAID KHATIB/AFP/Getty Images)

  • Smoke rises following an Israeli air strike in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, on November 14, 2012. (SAID KHATIB/AFP/Getty Images)

  • A Palestinian man cries as security forces wheel into a hospital the body of Ahmaed Jaabari (unseen), head of the military wing of the Hamas movement, the Ezzedin Qassam Brigades, after the car he was riding was hit by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on November 14, 2012. (MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images)

  • Palestinians extinguish fire from the car of Ahmaed Jaabari, head of the military wing of the Hamas movement, the Ezzedin Qassam Brigades, after it was hit by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on November 14, 2012. (MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty Images)

  • Palestinian firefighters extinguish fire from the car of Ahmaed Jaabari, head of the military wing of the Hamas movement, the Ezzedin Qassam Brigades, after it was hit by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on November 14, 2012. (MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty Images)

  • Palestinians extinguish fire from the car of Ahmaed Jaabari, head of the military wing of the Hamas movement, the Ezzedin Qassam Brigades, after it was hit by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on November 14, 2012. (MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty Images)

  • Palestinian firefighters extinguish fire from the car of Ahmaed Jaabari, head of the military wing of the Hamas movement, the Ezzedin Qassam Brigades, after it was hit by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on November 14, 2012. (MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty Images)



@ BreakingNews : Rocket landed in open area near Jerusalem, no casualties, Israel's Channel 2 TV reports - @Reuters

Share this:

CNN reports:

Israel said it's holding off on a military ground offensive in "to give time -- limited time -- for a diplomatic solution," an Israeli official close to the negotiations said. "That solution must result in no more Hamas rockets fired on Israel."

Read more here.

Share this:
@ JonDonnison : #IDF overnight figures: Since mignight 29 rockets fired from #Gaza toward Israel 12 intercepted 3 direct hit in Beer Sheava no casualties

Share this:
@ AP : BREAKING: Israeli police say man attacks, wounds security guard at US Embassy in Tel Aviv; is detained.

Share this:
@ BreakingNews : More: Hillary Clinton to meet with Israeli PM Netanyahu first, will then meet with Palestinian Authority in Ramallah - @ChuckTodd

Share this:
@ markknoller : WH announces Secretary of State Clinton heading to mideast today to work for de-escalation of the violence between Gaza and Israel.

Share this:
@ BarakRavid : Israel decided to give more time to Egyptian cease fire mediation in order to gain more international legitimacy if invasion is needed

Share this:
@ BarakRavid : After a 4 hour meeting tonight the forum of 9 ministers decided to continue pushing on the diplomatic track and hold off on Gaza invasion

Share this:

Ben-Dror Yemeni, whom Haaretz describes as "one of the nation's more consistent and often bare-knuckle critics of the Israeli and international left," has written a newspaper column arguing for an end to Israel's assault on Gaza: "It's not pleasant, but you have to admit that the left is correct. Nothing good will come out of this operation."

Bradley Burston, writing in Haaretz:

In an eerily prescient opinion piece that appeared early Sunday, hours before intensified Israeli air strikes caused an alarming rise in the toll of Palestinian civilian casualties in Gaza, Yemini wrote that the pattern of Israel's ill-fated recent wars in Lebanon (2006) and Gaza ("Cast Lead," 2008-9) was being played out again.

"At the moment, we're equipped with a lovely statement of support from the American administration and with additional voices of backing from European leaders," Yemini notes. In a reference to Cast Lead and the ensuing UN inquiry of possible war crimes by Israel and Hamas, he continues, "That's exactly how it was the last time. It didn't end just with Goldstone. It also ended with Hamas becoming much stronger. Its international support grew, and its means of striking at Israel became more sophisticated."

Yemeni advocates a unilateral ceasefire, followed by an invitation to peace talks -- predicated on Hamas' acceptance of the terms laid down by the so-called Quartet (UN, U.S., EU and Russia). "They will, of course, refuse," he asserts. "However, the public proposal will clear this up for at least some of the viewers, who are finding it difficult to comprehend who the aggressors are here, and who are those who are being forced to defend themselves."

Read Haaretz's story here.

--Eamon Murphy

Share this:
@ pdanahar : Oh there you go, a distant air strike. So maybe it has been a 'relatively' quiet night after all

Share this:

The Atlantic's Robert Wright writes:

President Obama and Bibi Netanyahu are on the same page when it comes to the justification for Israel's bombardment of Gaza. Netanyahu : "No country in the world would agree to a situation in which its population lives under a constant missile threat." Obama: "There's no country on earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders."

It's true that if, say, Canada were lobbing missiles into the US, the US wouldn't tolerate it. But here's another thing the US wouldn't tolerate: If Canada imposed a crippling economic blockade, denying America the import of essential goods and hugely restricting American exports. That would be taken as an act of war, and America would if necessary respond with force--by, perhaps, lobbing missiles into Canada.

Read more here.

Share this:
@ seldeeb : according to some statistics, Singapore, Hong Kong, Monaco and 2 other places have higher population density than #Gaza

Share this:

Al Jazeera reports:

"We think it's vitally important that this council, by its action, or non-action, is reinforcing the prospects for an agreed cessation" of hostilities, said Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN. "That's got to be agreed between the parties to be meaningful or sustainable," Rice said. "That is our principle objective in these discussions."

--Sasha Belenky

Share this:

nitzan

An Israeli girl holds her sister as they take cover in a large concrete pipe used as a bomb shelter during a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip on November 19, 2012 in Nitzan, Israel.

Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images

Share this:

From the NLG's website:

The National Lawyers Guild calls for an immediate halt to the Israeli bombardment of Gaza and demands that the U.S. government immediately cease all aid to Israel. The NLG calls for further action by the U.N. Security Council, General Assembly, and Human Rights Council to protect the civilian population of Gaza, to oppose the bombardment, and to oppose any further escalation.

Read more here.

Share this:

The current conflict in Gaza is notable for the amount of information being disseminated via social media.

HuffPost Blogger Brian Rooney takes a look at the hashtag war:

Then there was this from the Al Qassam Brigades in Gaza, "#Israeli air force shelling house of Al Askari's family". The snappy rejoinder from the Israel Defense Forces: "#Gaza terrorists targeted Ashdod again." ...

Israel and the Hamas leadership of the Gaza Strip are in a shooting war in which homes and government offices have been destroyed and more than 60 people have been killed, the vast majority of them Palestinians. It's very serious, but like two high school girls with a romantic interest in the same skinny hipster in the senior class, Israel and Hamas are sending bitchy taunts to each other over Twitter.

Earlier Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu thanked Israelis via Twitter for "taking part in the national information effort."

@ netanyahu : I would like to thank all the citizens of #Israel and all over the #world who are taking part in the national information effort

@ netanyahu : The fact that you are focusing on rebutting the entire falsehood industry.

@ netanyahu : and reaching the audiences that you are getting to is a significant bonus for the State of Israel

At The New Republic, Marc Tracy interviews Avital Lebovich, the IDF lieutenant colonel and spokesperson responsible for the >@IDFSpokesperson Twitter feed:

The most striking and unprecedented social media moment of the past couple of days has not been the proliferation of hashtags, official and unofficial, or even the revelation that the IDF ison Pinterest. It was a ten-second clip the IDF posted to its YouTube page of the targeted assassination of Ahmed Jabari, the top Hamas military commander. You watch in black-and-white as a car, highlighted by a yellow circle, suddenly blows up. To call it jarring is an understatement.

“The logic was to allow direct access to video clips, usually taken from the air or from some intelligence cameras from the ground,” Lebovich explained. “They seem authentic and [viewers] understand this is not something we’re directing.”

--Sasha Belenky

Share this:

HuffPost blogger Hani Almadhoun writes about his mother, who is with her family in Gaza:

My mom is the matriarch of our family. She is the family's central bank and the great mother and a grandmother you would want for your own kids. While Israel was waging its war on the civilians in Gaza, my mother Fatema was busy keeping her 30 grandchildren entertained. They have been losing power often -- more often than they are used to -- due to constant shelling and interference by the Israeli army.

"Tonight, I will wear an extra pair of pants, to be ready. In case anything happens to us at night, I will be decent as I am being transported to a local hospital or morgue. I want to look good even if I have left this earth." As I felt a chill up my spine, she went on to tell me about our next door neighbor Essam; the 19-year old was bombed on his motorcycle near our Beit Lahia home. While the Israeli officials are too busy "sending Gaza to the Middle Ages," my own family and so many others are trying to stay alive and sane.

targt="_hplink">Read the whole thing here.

Share this:

The Jerusalem Post profiles Maj. Itamar Abu, the commander of an Iron Dome battery in the Tel Aviv area:

“It’s an amazing feeling when we make an interception,” Abu said on Monday. “We set up this battery in only 24 hours. ...

Three days ago, Abu was pursuing his university studies, when he was called back by the air force to command the new battery, the fifth of its kind deployed to defend the lives of civilians from Palestinian terrorists’ rockets.

Read more about Israel's Iron Dome system here.

--Sasha Belenky

Share this:

Al Jazeera reports that three Israelis were wounded by rocket fire on Monday, according to the IDF.

It says that 67 rockets were fired at Israel on Monday, while 42 others were intercepted by its "Iron Dome" missile interception system.

--Sasha Belenky

Share this:

The U.S. Navy is sending three warships to the eastern Mediterranean, in the event that they are needed to assist with the evacuation of American citizens from Israel, CNN reports:

The officials stressed an evacuation remains an extremely remote possibility and the Obama administration is not currently planning for one. Americans who wish to leave the region now are able to do so using commercial airlines.

U.S. officials told CNN that the ships would not be used for any combat role.

--Sasha Belenky

Share this:

Share this:

HuffPost's Michael Calderone reports on the differences for reporters in Gaza today in comparison to during Israel's Operation Cast Lead in 2008.

NBC News correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin said it's a "completely different dynamic" reporting from Gaza now than it was four years ago, given both the unrestricted access for journalists and widespread use of social media.

..

"I think it's a testament to how important journalism still is in having real journalists on the ground in Gaza," Mohyeldin said.

Read the full story on HuffPost Media.

Share this:

From The New Yorker, Wasseem el Sarraj writes:

From the moment the bombing started I cursed the newly built shopping mall that towers over our house. Not only did it break all of Gaza’s lax zoning laws, but its owner was known to be a Hamas sympathizer: each day I have been afraid that it could be one of Israel’s bombing targets. Israel’s target list will be inspected and debated in the aftermath of this operation; at present it seems to be a mixture of rocket-launching sites, pre-identified militants, weapons caches, and then there are the “symbolic” targets. Each of which carries a different strategic calculation for Israel, but from where we sit, the symbolic targeting of government buildings is as baffling as the decision to fight homemade rockets with bombs dropped from F-16s. And all of these risk civilian casualties, the “collateral damage” that rolls much too easily off too many tongues.

Read the rest here.

Share this:

HuffPost Blogger David Mednicoff, director of Middle Eastern Studies at UMass-Amherst, discusses some of the seemingly intractable differences that have become ingrained into the thinking surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and seemingly "paralyzed" efforts to find common ground:

In the end, there are only three comparative equivalences that matter. First, there are people on both sides who believe that the solution to this conflict is violence and dehumanization that can wear the other side out or make it act in ways that look bad. Second, there are many more people on both sides whose daily lives are disrupted, even destroyed, by the first group of people. And third, everyone it takes on each side of the conflict to stop it soon, rather than justify it, is what the rest of us must strive to see happen.

Read more here.

--Sasha Belenky

Share this:
@ AymanM : Breaking: two Massive israeli airstrikes and explosion targeting courthouse right behind our live position @nbcnightlynews @nbcnews

Share this:
@ seldeeb : HUGE bang #gaza near out building. It shook. Shrapnel in our balcony.

Share this:

iron dome

Israelis look at a military Iron Dome defense missile system, designed to intercept and destroy incoming short-range rockets and artillery shells from Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Monday, Nov. 19, 2012. Photo by Oded Balilty, AP

(h/t Jessica Testa)

Share this:

Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese militant group and political party Hezbollah, told followers on Monday that the ongoing conflict in Gaza has been a "failure" for Israel, Reuters reports.

"The shelling is clearly and deliberately targeting civilians and killing women and children," Nasrallah said in a video speech. "The military operation has failed to achieve its targets. The killing is aimed at putting pressure on the leadership of the resistance in the Gaza Strip to drop its conditions (for a truce)."

Nasrallah also called on Arab nations to supply militants in Gaza with more weapons.

As the conflict in Gaza drags on, many in Israel are keeping an eye on Hezbollah and hope that the group doe not decide to take any military action against Israel, something that would open a massive and devastating new front in the war.

Read the Reuters report here.

--Joshua Hersh

Share this:

According to theMaan News Agency, an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza killed a family of four on Monday.

Two children, Suhaib and Muhammed Hijazi, were said to be "killed instantly" when their home in Beit Lahiya was hit. Parents Foad and Amna Hijazi died at a hospital. The attack reportedly wounded eighteen others, and three responders were hurt when part of the house collapsed.

-- Eamon Murphy

Share this:

The Jerusalem Fund for Education & Community Development, an independent, Washington D.C.-based non-profit group, released an infographic on Monday illustrating the different types of weapons available to Israel and Palestinian groups.

Check out the infographic below, courtesy of the Jerusalem Fund, to review the most significant weapons being used in the conflict and their respective ranges.

israel weapons arsenal

-- Sara Gates

Share this: