BBC Online :
Israel will resist foreign pressure to halt its operations in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said.
He said Israel had attacked more than 1,000 targets in Gaza since Tuesday, and was using twice the force it used during a similar operation in 2012.
More than 100 people have died in the Israeli air strikes on Gaza, Palestinian sources say.
Meanwhile militants in Gaza continue to fire rockets into Israel, causing damage and injuries. Netanyahu said he had held “very good, positive” telephone consultations with US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
But he added that “no international pressure will prevent us from acting with all power”.
The Palestinian health ministry says in addition to those killed, 675 people – mainly civilians – have been injured in Israel’s Operation Protective Edge since it began on Tuesday. Israel says “dozens of terrorists” are among the dead.
But UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says there is “serious doubt” as to whether Israeli’s military operation complies with international laws banning the
targeting of civilians.
“We have received deeply disturbing reports that many of the civilian casualties, including of children, occurred as a result of strikes on homes,” Ms Pillay said in a statement.
Israel has repeatedly insisted that it tries to avoid civilian casualties, but says the militants often place their military assets in residential areas.
Five Palestinians died in an attack on a house in Rafah.
Rockets were fired at Israel from both Gaza and Lebanon. A petrol station was hit in the Israeli town of Ashdod.
US President Barack Obama offered to help with a truce in a phone call with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Palestinian health ministry now says 100 people have died since Israel launched its Operation Protective Edge early on Tuesday. Some 670 people – mainly civilians – have been injured.
Israel says “dozens of terrorists” are among the dead.
Israel says militants have fired close to 500 rockets from Gaza since Tuesday. It says many of the rockets have been intercepted by its Iron Dome anti-missile system – and that it has attacked about 780 targets over the same period. There have been no reports of fatalities in Israel.
Three people were injured, one seriously, when a rocket hit the petrol station in Ashdod on Friday morning, Israeli officials say. Three rockets were also shot down by Iron Dome over Tel Aviv, the Israeli military said.
The Lebanese military also confirmed that militants in the south of the country 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.
In Gaza, an Israeli air strike on a house in Rafah killed five people – three men and two women – the health ministry said.
It said a second strike killed a girl in Rafah, while one militant was killed when his motorcycle was hit north of Gaza City.
In his telephone call with Netanyahu, Barack Obama said: “The United States remains prepared to facilitate a cessation of hostilities, including a return to the November 2012 ceasefire agreement,” according to a White House statement.
The president also strongly condemned rocket fire by Hamas, “expressed concern about the risk of further escalation and emphasised the need for all sides to do everything they can to protect the lives of civilians and restore calm”.
Some 20,000 Israeli army reservists have been mobilised amid speculation of a ground offensive into Gaza.
The BBC’s Kevin Connolly in Jerusalem says a ground invasion would be a big political gamble as the military would have to deliver a clear victory before leaving, and that would be extremely difficult.
Israel says its targets in Gaza have been militant fighters and facilities, but the Palestinian health ministry says many of those who have died were women and children.
On Friday, a statement from Egypt’s foreign ministry condemned Israel’s “excessive and unnecessary use of military force leading to the death of innocent civilians”.
Egypt helped broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas after a conflict in 2012.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also condemned Israel’s offensive. He said: “You have to end this oppression. As long as it does not end, a normalising of ties between Turkey and Israel is not possible.”
