Live Blog: Gaza under attack

In an interview with the BBC, left-wing writer and activist Tariq Ali criticised the organisation's coverage of the conflict in Gaza:

An 11-year-old Palestinian boy was shot dead by Israeli troops in a refugee camp in the southern West Bank on Sunday, relatives and Palestinian medics said.

Khalil Mohammed al-Anati had been playing outside his home at one end of Al-Fawwar refugee camp, southwest of the flashpoint city of Hebron, when an Israeli unit moved into the area, his uncle told AFP.

"We don't know what they (the Israelis) were doing," said Yussef al-Anati, crying, his shirt soaked in blood after carrying his nephew to hospital.

"Khalil was playing in front of the house, then we heard gunfire. The kid was screaming and fell down," he said. "He was shot in the back and the bullet exited through his stomach."

- Senior Hamas official says there is a "weak" possibility that Gaza truce talks would succeed and that Palestinian negotiators could leave Cairo after a meeting with Egyptian mediators

- More than 1,900 Palestinians killed in Gaza so far

- Israeli strike on Deir al-Balah killed a 17-year-old Palestinian boy on Sunday

- Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said at a government meeting on Monday that "Hamas must be defeated."

- The Israel Air Force has struck 25 Gaza targets since midnight on Sunday

The BBC has announced that the Disaster Emergency Committee appeal raised more than £4.5million in the first 24 hours.

In 2009, the organisation came in for criticism for refusing the air the appeal during Operation Cast Lead.

Israeli airstrikes have hit areas in Rafah and Khan Younis on Saturday, largely in empty fields and uninhabited houses, says MEE contributor Mohammed Omer. 

A seven-year blockade on the Gaza Strip must end to enable reconstruction and a political solution must be found to resolve the conflict, a UN official said on Saturday.

"Huge swathes of Gaza have been levelled. We cannot rebuild it with our hands tied behind our backs," said Chris Gunness, spokesman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

"The blockade must end. We are beyond the realm of humanitarian action alone. All those directly and indirectly responsible for the carnage and destruction must engage," he said.

UN agencies and the Palestinian Authority are now working on a reconstruction plan which includes rebuilding water, sewerage facilities and electricity supplies.

"This is an urgent priority. Without it people simply cannot go home. Rubble removal is also an important aspect of this for which we are planning to use local workers to boost the local economy," Gunness said.

Gunness said that Israel has legitimate security concerns, but that collective punishment of the 1.8 million Palestinians packed into Gaza had been "ineffective".

"It is time for Israel to enable, not disable. It is time for the world to recognise the blindingly obvious -- that the Gaza conflict requires a political solution," he said.

Hamas vowed Saturday there would be no concessions to Israel, defying international attempts to broker a new ceasefire after fighting resumed.

"There will be no going back, the resistance will continue," Hamas spokesman Fawzy Barhum said in a statement.

"The occupier's intransigence will get it nowhere and we will make no concessions on the demands of our people."

Haaretz:

"Tel Aviv police announces it will not permit the left-wing demonstration planned for this evening in the city's Rabin
Square. "Due to the security situation, the rocket threat, and in light of the recommendations set forth by the Home Front Command, it has been decided that no large-scale public congregations in open areas will be allowed.

"According to the instructions issued by the IDF's Home Front Command yesterday, gatherings of over 1,000 people in open areas are not permitted anywhere within 40-80 kilometers of the Strip's perimeter. Both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv fall into that category.

"In areas within 40 kilometers of the Strip, public gathering of over 500 people are forbidden, both oin open areas and within closed spaces."