Innocent victims: Children among dozens killed by Israeli airstrikes
Published: 18 November, 2012,           .
Edited: 18 November, 2012                 .
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A Palestinian rescue worker carries the body of a child from the
al-Dallu family into the hospital in Gaza City.(AFP Photo / Mohammed
Abed)
                                                            
At least 13 children have been killed since Operation Pillar of Defense
began. That number could potentially rise if Israel launches a ground
operation on Gaza.
                                                           
An Israeli missile flattened a three-story house in Gaza City, killing
at least 9 civilians including four children. Eighteen-month-old Iyyad
Abu Khusa was killed in a strike east of the Bureij refugee camp in
central Gaza. His brothers, aged four and five, were seriously wounded
in the raid, Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told AFP.
                                                           
Hours earlier, two toddlers were killed by strikes in the towns of Beit
Hanun and Beit Lahiya. The children were identified as three-year-old
Tamer Abu Saeyfan and his one-year-old sister, Jumana Abu Saeyfan.
                                                          
A Palestinian relative of four sibling children of the al-Dalo family,
who were killed in an Israeli air strike, reacts as he stands next their
bodies at a hospital in Gaza City November 18, 2012. (Reuters / Mohammed
Salem)
                                                          
Thirteen-year-old Tasneem Nahal was also among the children killed. She
died of massive shrapnel wounds to the head after an Israeli strike hit
a refugee camp in Gaza City.
                                                          
Several women could be heard screaming and weeping after she was killed,
AFP reported.
                                                         
The tragic deaths of Gazan children killed in Israeli air strikes have
angered the Arab and Islamic world.
                                                          
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that sooner or later,
Israel would be held accountable for the "massacre."
                                                       
The child death toll is expected to rise unless the two sides enter
negotiations soon.
                                                      
The Israeli military is prepared to significantly expand the operation.
The soldiers are ready for any activity that could take place. the
Israel ( *erroneous word deleted ) Forces have attacked more than 1,000
(*erroneous word deleted ) targets in the Gaza Strip and it continues
its operation in this very moment, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said at a weekly cabinet meeting.
                                                         
Palestinians carry the body of Jumana Abu Sefan (L), 18 months, and her
brother Tamer, three and a half years old, during their funeral in the
village of Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip.(AFP Photo / Mohammed
Abed)
                                                         
On Friday, Israel called up 75,000 army reservists to prepare for a
possible ground operation against Gaza.
                                                         
"We must blow Gaza back to the Middle Ages, destroying all the
infrastructure including roads and water, Israeli Interior Minister Eli
Yishai said, as quoted by Yeshiva World News.
                                                          
The chief of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has ordered the increase
of sorties against militants in Gaza.
                                                          
However, many world leaders believe a ceasefire could be foreseeable in
the near future.
                                                          
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius is set to hold talks with Israeli
authorities and Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas during a
one-day trip to the region.
                                                         
He is expected "to call on all the parties to stop the escalation and
offer France's help to reach an immediate ceasefire," his ministry said
in a statement.
                                                         
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle is expected to arrive in
Israel on Monday, to attempt to advance a ceasefire.
                                                         
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi is pushing for a truce, too. "There are
some indications that there could be a ceasefire soon-but there are no
guarantees," he said in a statement.
                                                         
An Israeli envoy held talks with Egyptian officials in Cairo earlier
Sunday.
                                                         
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will meet with Morsi and other
officials in Egypt on Monday, according to the Egyptian Foreign
Ministry.
                                                        
The Arab League has called an emergency meeting on the conflict in
Cairo. Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal in Cairo is in Egypt for the talks,
which aren't expected to take place before Monday.
                                                         
Palestinian mourners bid farewell to the body of Tasneem al-Nahal, 13,
during her funeral in Gaza City.(AFP Photo / Mohammed Abed)
                                                         
Palestinian mourners pray over the body of 18-month-old Eyad Abu Khosa,
killed in the latest Israeli airstrikes, during his funeral in the
Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip.(AFP Photo / Mahmud Hams)
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