DEATH TOLL HITS 59 AS ISRAEL POUND GAZA EVERY FEW MINUTES

GAZA CITY, Palestine - When the rest of the world is entertaining the world cup semi-finals in Brazil, Israeli warplanes pounded the Gaza Strip every few minutes on Wednesday, killing at least 30 people in a major new confrontation with Palestinian militants, as Hamas flexed its firepower.

As the death toll from Israel's two-day Operation Protective Edge reached 59, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared bent on ploughing ahead, warning of even tougher action against Hamas.

There have been no Israeli deaths so far, but Hamas is reported began flaunting its firepower overnight.

It launched waves of long-range rockets across central Israel that triggered sirens in cities as far away as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

The alarms even sounded in the northern port city of Haifa, as unconfirmed reports spoke of a rocket hitting near Caesarea and another even further north.

Tanks massed on the Gaza border, AFP correspondents reported, as Netanyahu came under mounting pressure from hardliners within his governing coalition to send ground forces into the territory from which it pulled all troops and settlers in 2005.

“We have decided to further intensify the attacks on Hamas and the terror organizations in Gaza,” his office quoted him as saying.

President Shimon Peres warned that “if the fire continues we do not rule out a ground incursion,” his office quoted hims as saying in an interview with CNN.

Source: Daily Star