News Desk :Israeli war planes on Saturday struck at least 70 places, including mosques in Gaza in response to, what they claimed, rockets fired by militants.Medical workers fought through the rubble of the Qassam Mosque in Gaza to retrieve three bodies, some of the latest victims of war between Israel and Gaza, which continues after negotiations to extend a cease-fire failed this week.The mosque in central Gaza was hit in an Israeli airstrike, said Palestinian Health Ministry spokesman Dr. Ashraf el-Qedra. Less than a mile away, a strike killed two men riding on a motorbike, he said. Israel’s military confirmed the strike, claiming the two men were militants.In Gaza City, residents heard blasts as Israeli fighter jets flew overhead. A 10-year-old boy died while playing with friends, said the Palestinian Ministry of Health, as the death toll crept toward 1,900.Overnight into Saturday, the Israel struck more than 20 targets in Gaza.Gazan Islamic militant group and political party Hamas traded accusations with the Israeli government over who was at fault for the resumption of hostilities. Hamas denied responsibility for firing rockets Friday. Fighters from Islamic Jihad and the Al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades said they fired rockets on Friday, but they blamed Israel for the truce’s end, saying it died during negotiations, when Israel refused to accept their demands.On the West Bank, riots broke out, Palestinians clashed with Israeli security forces, and an Israeli soldier shot a 19-year-old Palestinian man, killing him, as a dozen youths threw rocks.Dozens were injured in clashes during a pro-Gaza rally in Hebron, according to an official Palestinian news report. And on Saturday, a man succumbed to his wounds, el-Qedra said. He had been struck in the chest by a bullet.During the truce, Israeli and Palestinian delegations held indirect talks in Cairo through Egyptian go-betweens.When they ended without result, the Egyptian foreign ministry, which brokered the talks, said it felt the cease-fire could have easily been extended. The parties had agreed on most issues, and those not agreed upon were few and limited, the ministry said in a statement.The fighting resumed after Israeli and Palestinian representatives failed to agree a long-term truce at indirect talks in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.Hamas said Israel had failed to meet its key demands, including the lifting of the Gazan blockade and the release of prisoners. It also rejected Israel’s call for the demilitarisation of Gaza.Israel launched Operation Protective Edge on 8 July with the stated aim of halting rocket fire from militants in Gaza and destroying the network of tunnels it said were used by militants to launch attacks inside Israel.The strikes have damaged large parts of Gaza, including the only electricity plant, which was knocked out by shelling on 29 July. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned that the plant’s shutdown has worsened the humanitarian crisis for Gaza’s 1.7 million residents.”It has drastically curtailed the pumping of water to households and the treatment of sewage,” HRW, a New York-based group, said on Saturday.The group said hospitals are increasingly relying on generators, and the supply of food is under threat because refrigerators and bakeries have no power. Israel said its forces hit the station by accident.
