Live blog: Gaza under attack
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Israeli air strikes have killed two Gazan while they were riding a motorbike in Rafah, said the Gaza ministry of health spokesperson, Ashraf al-Qudra.
The two have been identified as Marwan Abu Shluf, 29 and Ibrahim Hammad, 22.
At least 58 Palestinians have been killed since Israel resumed aerial and artillery attacks on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, a senior Palestinian Health Ministry official has said.
"This brings to 2075 the total number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks since July 7," ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qodra told Anadolu Agency.
He added that roughly 10,310 other Palestinians had been injured by devastating Israeli attacks over the same period.
Sana Hassainia, a New Democratic Party (NDP) MP, has quit the party parliamentary bloc over what she felt was an excessively pro-Israel stance on the current war on Gaza, reported the Middle East Monitor.
Hassainia was critical of NDP Leader Tom Mulcair in a blog post that appeared online yesterday, noting that she had been forced to stay quiet over her views on the Middle East.
"Today, I have the courage to make a significant gesture, to take a weight off my shoulders and stand by my convictions," she said.
The 39-year old MP, of Tunisian origins, said that she would continue her term in the parliament as an independent until the upcoming elections slated next year.
Responding to Hassainia's remarks, Mulcair said his party "has a long-standing position in favour of the two-state solution in the Middle East."
"Hamas is one and the leadership is united and led by Meshaal. Qassam is the militant wing and they act on the ground according to the major plans and objectives of Hamas," said Hamas leader Osama Hamdan when ask by Aljazeera if Hamas was united.
"Their goal is to resist the occupation, but when there is a political step taken, they respond positively and accept it directly. They supported the negotiations 100% and accepted many ceasefires," he added.
"Israel though Deif was in his home and they are the ones who ended the ceasefire in order to target him. Qassam did not launch any rockets during the negotiations," said Hamdan.
Hamas's senior leader Mahmoud Al-Zahar said on Wednesday that comparing Hamas with the Islamic State is "a deception" that aims to "incite" the world against the Palestinian resistance movement, Egypt's Al-Mesryoon newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The newspaper quoted a statement by Al-Zahar that was broadcast by Al-Aqsa, a television channel close to Hamas, as saying: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu making a connection between Hamas and the Islamic State is a deception, which aims to incite the world against Hamas."
Al-Zahar explained: "Hamas is a national resistance movement and its aim is to liberate Palestine."
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas held talks with exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal on Thursday as renewed fighting raged in Gaza following the collapse of Egyptian-brokered truce efforts.
The talks in Doha, where Meshaal is based, were hosted by Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, a key backer of the Islamist movement which dominates Gaza, the Gulf state's QNA news agency reported.
A Palestinian delegate told AFP that the talks between the three leaders lasted nearly three hours and were expected to be followed by a two-way meeting between Abbas and Meshaal.
The head of the Palestinian negotiating team at the abortive truce talks, Azzam al-Ahmed, joined the meeting, along with Palestinian Authority security chief Majid Faraj and senior official Saeb Erakat, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA said.
Palestinian resistance factions in the Gaza Strip have executed three people and detained seven others for spying for Israel, a pro-Hamas internet portal reported Thursday.
"The seven were detained while spying on the [Palestinian] resistance and Palestinian homes," the Almajid website reported.
Three other spies, meanwhile, had been executed, according to the portal.
Security agencies in the besieged coastal enclave frequently clamp down on suspected spies.
Suspects always face trial behind closed doors, while the media is usually prevented from covering the proceedings.
The Israeli cabinet on Thursday approved a request by Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon for the mobilization of 10,000 army reservists for its ongoing military offensive against the Gaza Strip.
The fresh troops will be used for both combat and support operations, according to Israeli daily Haaretz.
Almost all the Gaza Strip’s 1.8 million residents are suffering from a severe lack of water for drinking and washing, since Israeli bombs seriously damaged the Strip’s water, electricity and sewage infrastructure.
One of the most serious consequences of the water shortage has been an outbreak of skin disease and other infections in the temporary shelters that today house some 275,000 displaced Gazans. That number is expected to rise now that the fighting has resumed.
Israel should immediately allow access to Gaza for Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other international human rights organisations so they can investigate allegations of serious violations of international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said in a joint statement on 20 August.
Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya'alon is reportedly requested Israeli cabinet permission to call up 10,000 more reservists to fight in the conflict in Gaza.
On Wednesday, 2,000 reservists were called up.
A spokeswoman for the Israeli army said 27,000 reservists had been called up for the conflict before the break in fighting as indirect negotiations were held in Cairo.
Thee body of the three-year-old daughter of Hamas's military commander was pulled Thursday from the ruins of a building hit two days ago, killing her mother and brother, a medic said.
Emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra identified the girl as Sara, daughter of Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades commander Mohammed Deif.
The six-storey building in central Gaza City was totally destroyed when several Israeli missiles slammed into it late on Tuesday.