Earlier yesterday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed criticism of spiralling Palestinian civilian fatalities in Gaza, saying Israel tries to avoid them but that Hamas seeks to use "telegenically dead Palestinians" for its cause. Speaking to CNN, Netanyahu did not directly answer when asked whether Israel is headed towards an all-out reoccupation of the Gaza Strip. Instead, he said Israel would take "whatever action is necessary" to halt Hamas rocket attacks against Israel. "I support taking whatever action is necessary to stop this insane situation. Nobody wants to go to excessive military plans, but what is happening here is excessive."
Diplomatic efforts were being stepped up, with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon due to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Qatar for talks on a ceasefire. US Secretary of State John Kerry planned to visit the region. Kerry, caught speaking to an aide on an open microphone, criticised the scope of the Israeli military campaign, saying sarcastically "It's a hell of a pinpoint operation".
Both US President Barack Obama and Kerry expressed concern about the rising death toll.
Netanyahu said all Palestinian civilian casualties are unintended and regretted by the Israeli army, but accused Hamas of wanting to "pile up as many civilian dead as they can" to make Israel look bad. "They use telegenically dead Palestinians for their cause. They want the more dead, the better." He said the army's mission of destroying Hamas tunnels is "progressing fairly quickly".
Watch: Deadliest day yet of Israel-Gaza fighting
Menachem Klein, a political scientist at Bar-Ilan University, said the ground operation's goal is expanding from tunnel searches to "damaging the Hamas armed wing seriously". He predicts further escalation. "It means taking over more parts of Gaza City ... and killing the maximum number of Hamas fighters. For the Gaza civilians this is a great tragedy."
Gaza suburb shattered in heaviest Israeli shelling so far
The dazed and bleeding survivors staggered through clouds of black smoke. Beside them lay the skeletons of their homes, some still burning, others blasted into mangled heaps of white concrete.
Essam al-Mighary stood a few metres from where his own house was on fire, visibly disoriented and with a filthy bandage covering his right hand.
"My son is dead and my home is ruined," was all the 66-year-old man could say.
The heaviest bombardment of Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip fell upon the eastern suburb of Shejaiya yesterday, killing at least 70 people. After warning the area's 80,000 inhabitants to leave, Israeli forces began pounding Shejaiya with heavy artillery, mortars and air strikes.
The immediate effect was to force thousands of Palestinians to flee their homes. People streamed across Gaza City from east to west, searching for refuge at United Nations schools and the main hospital.
What they had left behind became clear when Israel called a four-hour "humanitarian" ceasefire in Shejaiya. Paramedics and firemen used this respite to do their utmost to reach survivors of the bombardment.
In Al-Beltaji street, where Mighary lived, building after building had been pulverised. In the space of a few minutes, the corpse of a woman was pulled from the rubble and wrapped in a white shroud that soon turned a vivid crimson. Another corpse, this time of a man, was carried past on a stretcher, with the face covered.
Watch: Israeli army video claims to show tunnels from Gaza to Israel
A man whose face had been lacerated by shrapnel was rescued by volunteers. All around lay the possessions of the people of Al-Beltaji street, cast into the rubble at random. Torn clothes mingled with shards of broken glass and heaps of debris. A lorry had been reduced to cinders and its tyres were still ablaze. Trees had fallen across the road, making it even harder for emergency vehicles to pass. Fallen electricity wires snaked across what had once been pavements.
A bewildered man in a blue T-shirt was led past a ruined building, with fires still burning inside a gaping ground floor. He trembled uncontrollably. As for why the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) had seen fit to visit such punishment upon the area, a military statement described Shejaiya as a "fortress for Hamas terrorists", accusing the radical Islamist movement of hiding behind civilians.
"Days ago, we warned civilians in Shejaiya to evacuate," said the IDF. "Hamas ordered them to stay. Hamas put them in the line of fire."
Shejaiya is less than a kilometre from Gaza's eastern border, making it ideal for firing rockets at Israeli cities.
The area duly became a key target for Israel's ground invasion of the Palestinian territory, which began last Friday.
Like elsewhere in the territory, armed fighters are indeed present in Shejaiya, One man on Al-Beltaji street was carrying a Kalashnikov assault rifle yesterday.
Yet thousands of ordinary Palestinians fled Israel's bombardment of the area. Many of these refugees arrived at Shifa Hospital, which they consider to be a place of safety. Hundreds have gathered in a garden behind the hospital. No food or water has been set aside for them, nor are there adequate sanitation facilities.
83,000 Palestinians in UN care
Tolls
508 Palestinian death toll, say Palestinian medics
72 Palestinians killed in Shejaiya
20 bodies found in one home in Khan Younis
13 Israeli soldiers killed inside Gaza yesterday
18 soldiers killed since ground operation began on Friday
2 Israeli civilians killed by rocket fire from Gaza
Rockets
1414 mortars and rockets have hit Israel
377 intercepted by Iron Dome, Israeli army said
8 per cent of rockets have been fired from Shejaiya, army said
Israeli targets in Gaza
110 Gaza fighters killed, Israel said
1000 sites linked to militants targeted
14 tunnels, all interconnected and leading towards Israel, uncovered
6 of them detonated, including one with a length of 1.2km, the army said
Conditions in Gaza
83,000 Palestinians have fled their homes and are staying in 61 United Nations shelters
60,000 children will be in need of psycho-social support, according to Unicef
80 per cent of Gaza's population is receiving electricity for about four hours a day
Doctors have warned of shortages of basic medical supplies and fuel for emergency generators
More than half of Gaza's population remains without access to a water supply, the UN said
Civilian assistance
670 trucks carrying humanitarian aid, such as baby food, water and fruits and vegetables, have previously been allowed to enter into Gaza, Israel said
25 trucks with medicine and other medical supplies included
But deliveries have decreased significantly since the start of the conflict
Yesterday the Israeli military established a field hospital for Palestinians at one border crossing
- Independent, Telegraph Group Ltd, AP, AFP
