Gaza Death Toll Mounts Amid Cease-Fire Talks
France and Egypt Propose Cease-fire Plan as Carnage Continues
The Israeli military says while the friendly fire incidents are regrettable their ground offensive is producing results. At least 130 Hamas fighters have been killed since the ground operation began and an additional 100 have been taken captive, military sources tell ABC News.
Israel Claims to Kill Hamas Military Leaders
The Israeli military also confirmed that it had killed Iman Siam, the head of Hamas' rocket launching program. The Israeli military says Siam "founded the organization's rocket launching program" and was "the head of Hamas' artillery program throughout the Gaza Strip."
Stopping the rocket attacks was why Israel invaded Gaza, but the rockets continued to zoom out of Gaza toward towns in southern Israel. An additional 26 rockets were fired so far today.
Israel also claimed to have killed four Hamas fighters ranging from a battalion commander to a senior commander.
Israeli military sources say that of the approximately 15,000 trained Hamas fighters in Gaza, there are about 1,000 who have received additional training and operate in leadership roles. Israel's military says taking out even a few Hamas leaders could strike a devastating blow to the organization.
The intensified fighting is increasing the number of civilian casualties. Medical sources in Gaza report that 35 Palestinians were killed through the night and that 28 of them were civilians.
In total, more than 600 Palestinians have been killed in the 11-day Israeli campaign and nearly 3,000 injured. The United Nations says 25 percent of the casualties are women and children.
In Gaza, the victims are finding there is no place to hide. Seventy-one Palestinians were killed in today's violence alone, Gaza health officials say.
In the Toufah neighborhood east of Gaza City, a tank shell tore into a home killing all 13 members of an extended family, according to ABC News producer Sami Zyara.
In a heart-wrenching scene at a Gaza hospital Monday night, a man held the lifeless body of his 3-month-old son. The boy was carefully wrapped in blankets, a bandage around his head. There was little doctors could do. The child died from wounds suffered in the fighting. Tears rolling down his face, the father kissed his son goodbye.
The Israeli military says it does not target civilians and officials stress that Hamas hides behind civilians and launches its rockets and mortars from civilian areas making it difficult for Israeli missiles to avoid collateral damage.
Dr. Mads Gilbert, a Westerner who has been working in Gaza's Al Shifa hospital during the Israeli offensive, said there was no doubt in his mind that Israel is targeting civilians.
"Among the injured," Gilbert told BBC News, "45 percent are women and children. … Among the killed, 25 percent of the killed are children and women. … So these numbers are contradictory to everything Israel has said."
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