Gaza death toll in Israeli air strikes reaches 100

According to Palestinian sources, the death toll from Israeli air strikes on Gaza has risen to 100.

The latest deaths were of two people in a car in the Bureij area on Friday, they said.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes since launching its operation on Tuesday to stop rocket fire from Gaza. Militants there continue to fire on Israel, causing damage and injuries.

The US earlier offered to help with a truce in a call to Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

Egypt and Turkey have both criticized Israel’s use of force.

The Palestinian health ministry says in addition to those killed, 675 people – mainly civilians – have been injured in Israel’s Operation Protective Edge.

Israel says “dozens of terrorists” are among the dead.

Overnight in Gaza, an Israeli air strike on a house in Rafah killed five people – three men and two women – the health ministry said.

A second strike, it added, killed a girl in Rafah, while one militant was killed when his motorcycle was hit north of Gaza City.

In Israel, one person was seriously injured when a rocket hit a petrol station in Ashdod on Friday morning, Israeli officials say.

Three rockets were also shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system over Tel Aviv, the Israeli military said.

Lebanon’s military also confirmed that militants in the south of the country had fired three rockets into northern Israel in the early hours of Friday and that Israel had shelled the area in response. No injuries were reported.

One Israeli soldier was injured by mortar fire in Eshkol on Thursday.

In his telephone conversation with PM Benjamin Netanyahu, President Barack Obama said: “The United States remains prepared to facilitate a cessation of hostilities, including a return to the November 2012 ceasefire agreement.”

Condemning rocket fire by Hamas, Barack Obama also “expressed concern about the risk of further escalation and emphasized the need for all sides to do everything they can to protect the lives of civilians and restore calm”.

Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair said on Friday it was necessary to tackle the “longer-term questions at the heart of this violence and conflict”.

“Without that long-term solution in place I think it’s going to be very difficult to create any short-term peace,” he said.

Some 20,000 Israeli army reservists have been mobilized amid speculation of a ground offensive into Gaza.

Israel says its targets in Gaza have been militant fighters and facilities, but the Palestinian health ministry says many women and children have been killed.

BDgAWaV1LTI