Israel hits hundreds of targets in Gaza with airstrikes after one of their soldiers is confirmed missing in area

Missing soldier has been identified as 21-year-old Sergeant Oron Shaul

He was among seven soldiers in vehicle destroyed by an anti-tank missile in Gaza at weekend

In the past, Israel has swapped hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for a single Israeli held by Hamas

News comes as IDF announces it has captured a 16-year-old Palestinian fighter inside Israel

Boy was among a group of Hamas militants who tunnelled out of Gaza to launch raids on Israeli troops



Number of Palestinians killed by the in Gaza fighting passes 600 - UN says 75 per cent were civilians

Israeli Defence Force says it has lost 27 soldiers in Gaza. Two Israeli civilians have been killed by Hamas rockets



100,000 Palestinians - 6 per cent of the population - in Gaza have sought refuge in UN compounds

UNRWA expects the number of displaced to rise to 150,000 and calls for international aid to help them



UN Secretary General calls on both sides to 'stop fighting, start talking' and tackle root causes

But Israeli Prime Minister says Hamas are violent Islamist extremists like ISIS and Boko Haram




Israel continued to devastate the Gaza Strip with air strikes and artillery today as tensions in the country rose with the news an Israeli soldier is missing following a deadly battle.

As Israeli warplanes bombarded a wide range of targets along the densely populated coastal strip, diplomatic efforts intensified to end the two week war that has killed more than 600 Palestinians and 29 Israelis.

Military officials said the missing soldier, Sergeant Oron Shaul, 21, was among seven soldiers in a vehicle blown up by an anti-tank missile fired by Hamas militants during close-quarters fighting over the weekend.



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A Palestinian is rescued from under the wreckage of his house after it was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in Khan Yunis, Gaza yesterday. Right, Hiwate, the daughter of Israeli soldier Bayhesain Kshaun, who was killed in Gaza yesterday mourns during her father's funeral in the southern town of Netivot today Rescuers pass an oxygen mask to the man, a member of the Selam family, while he lies pinned beneath concrete, steel and rubble in the wreckage of his home Rescuers locate a second member of the Selam family who survived the strike but is trapped beneath the rubble. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed so far, 75 per cent of them civilians according to the United Nations humanitarian office in the territory It was not immediately known if Sgt Shaul, the first soldier to go missing since Israel invaded Gaza last Thursday, was alive or dead, Israeli defence officials told The Associated Press.

The disappearance raised the possibility that he had been captured by Hamas - a nightmare scenario for Israel. In the past, Israel has paid a heavy price in lopsided prisoner swaps to retrieve captured soldiers or remains held by its enemies. Sgt Shaul's six comrades have been confirmed as dead, but no remains have been identified as his, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the incident with media. RELATED ARTICLES Previous

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Next The moment 'unarmed civilian was shot dead by an Israeli... Anti-Semitic attacks on the rise across Europe: German,... How the young Americans killed fighting in the Gaza Strip... Share this article Share Hamas claimed earlier this week that it had captured an Israeli soldier. Israel's U.N. ambassador initially denied the claim but the military neither confirmed nor denied it. A representative of Shaul's family, Racheli Gazit, said that 'so long as the verification has not been completed ... as far as the family is concerned Oron is not a fallen soldier.' The Israeli Defence Force said the six soldiers who were killed in the APC attack were Sergeant Max Steinberg, aged 24, from Beersheba; Staff-Sergeant Shachar Tase, 20, from Pardesiya; Staff-Sergeant Daniel Pomerantz, 20, Kfar Azar; Sergeantt Shon Mondshine, 19, Tel Aviv; Sergeant Ben Itzhak Oanounou, 19, Ashdod; and Staff-Sergeant Oren Simcha Noah, 22, Hoshaya. Smoke and fire from the explosion of an Israeli strike rise over Gaza City as Israel continued its bombardment of the besieged territory today The bombardment has continued for two weeks, with no let up of rockets fired back at Israel by Hamas, despite constant UN calls for a ceasefire Smoke blocks out sky after an Israeli warplane drops bombs on eastern Gaza's Al Shejaeiya neighbourhood Another Israeli airstrike on the Al Shejaeiya neighbourhood sends a huge ball of fire rising over the skyline of eastern Gaza The announcement of Sgt Shaul's apparent capture in Gaza came as reports emerged that 16-year-old was among two Palestinian fighters captured in Israel after tunnelling out of the besieged territory with a group of militants to launch a surprise attack on Israeli forces on their own turf. The Times of Israel reported that the boy is being treated at Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon after he and a number of other fighters emerged overnight from two tunnels in southern Israel to launch pre-dawn raids on Israeli forces. The first group - who were disguised in IDF uniforms - killed four Israeli soldiers after flagging down their jeep and opening fire, the IDF told the paper. Ten of the militants were subsequently killed when they were tracked down by the Israelis.

The second group was spotted by Israeli security forces before they could launch an attack and several were killed.



The Al Farouk mosque, which destroyed by an overnight Israeli strike, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, as Israeli airstrikes pummelled targets across the coastal territory

Palestinians inspect the wreckage of the Al Farouk mosque today, as Israeli offensive rumbles on into its second week with Hamas still firing rockets back into Israeli territory in response

Children wander around the rubble and remains of the blasted mosque, which was hit overnight by an Israeli air strike

In Cairo, UN chief Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Egyptian officials today in the highest-level push yet to end the deadly conflict.



The U.S. is sending $47 million in aid to Gaza 'to alleviate some of the immediate humanitarian crisis,' Mr Kerry said. Ban then traveled to Israel.



Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, urged the international community to hold Hamas accountable for the latest round of violence, saying its refusal to agree to a cease-fire had prevented an earlier end to the fighting.



'What we're seeing here with Hamas is another instance of Islamist extremism, violent extremism that has no resolvable grievance,' said Mr Netanyahu at a joint press conference with Mr Ban in Tel Aviv. He compared Hamas with al-Qaida and extremist Islamic militant groups in Iraq, Syria and Africa.



'Hamas is like ISIS, Hamas is like al Qaida, Hamas is like Hezbollah, Hamas is like Boko Haram,' he said. Mr Netanyahu was responding to a call by Mr Ban that the sides address the root causes of the fighting and work toward bringing about a two-state solution.



'My message to Israelis and Palestinians is the same: stop fighting, start talking and take on the root causes of the conflict so we are not back to the same situation in another six months or a year,' Mr Ban said.

'We must address these underlying issues – including mutual recognition, occupation, despair and the denial of dignity – so people do not feel they have to resort to violence as a means of expressing their grievances.'

Mr Netanyahu responded that Hamas, a group whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel, does not want a two-state solution.

A relative carries a nine-year-old Shahed Qishtah into the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip

Shahed's father screams for the doctors as his relative follows, carrying his daughter into the hospital. She was injured in an air strike while playing

Trauma ward doctors lie Shahed down on a hospital bed in the emergency room while they prepare to treat her wounds

Shahed's relative leaves the hospital, covered in the blood of the nine-year-old girl who later died of her injuries

Israel launched a massive aerial bombardment of Gaza on July 8 to stop relentless Hamas rocket fire into Israel. The militant group is refusing to back down until Israel agrees to lift its long-running blockade which has restricted trade with and aid to Gaza since 2007.

According to the United Nations Relief Works Agency, which provides assistance to Palestinian refugees across the Middle East, more than 100,000 people in Gaza - about 6 per cent of the population - have been forced from their homes as Israeli missiles rain down and conscript soldiers march into their neighbourhoods.



The displaced people have been packed into 70 UN-run schools, but the agency warns that their number is likely to rise again by at least another half, to 150,000, and it is calling for $115million in aid to help care for them.

'Palestinians trapped in the third round of conflict that Gaza has seen in less than six years will require substantial support to meet immediate human needs and needs that will arise after hostilities have ceased,' the agency said in a news release. It said it would need $37.4million to cover food and hygiene needs and $60million to begin rebuilding Gaza once the bombardment ended. A further $2.7million would be needed to provide psychiatric support to children caught in the fighting.



UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl said: 'What is happening in the Gaza Strip, the relentless violence, loss of life and mass displacement, can only be described as shocking. No people, under any circumstances, should be made to endure it.



'The reality being created before our eyes is unsustainable, for the Palestinians themselves and for the region as a whole. We cannot, and will not, abandon the people of Gaza and I call on the international community to come to their aid at this time of great need.'



The body of the 21-year-old solider is lowered into the ground at his funeral. Some 593 Palestinians and 29 Israelis, 27 of them soldiers, have died in the fighting in Gaza as the conflict entered its third week

Israeli soldiers carry the coffin of Maj. Tzafrir Bar-Or, 32, one of 13 solider's who were killed in several separate incidents in Shijaiya on Sunday

It expanded it on July 17 to a ground war aimed at destroying tunnels the military says Hamas has constructed from Gaza into Israel for attacks against Israelis.

The military says Hamas has launched 2,000 rockets since the war began.

The Gaza Health Ministry says at least 609 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza. The U.N. office of humanitarian affairs estimates that at least 75 percent of them were civilians, including dozens of children.

Israeli soldiers carry the flag-draped coffin of their comrade Moshe Malko during his funeral this week

Israeli soldiers mourn during the funeral of Moshe Malko in Jerusalem

Missing Israeli soldier Oron Shaul, who was the only survivor of seven riding in an APC destroyed by an anti-tank missile fired by Palestinian fighters

Another Israeli soldier was killed today in fighting in southern Gaza, raising the number of Israeli troops confirmed dead to 27.

Two Israeli civilians also have been killed.

Overnight, the Israeli military said it bombed more than 180 militant targets in Gaza, including concealed rocket launchers, a weapon manufacturing facility and surface-to-surface missile launchers. Gaza police spokesman Ayman Batniji said mosques, a sports complex and the home of a former Hamas military chief also were hit.

Since the war began Israel has struck almost 3,000 sites in Gaza, killed more than 180 armed Palestinians and uncovered 66 access shafts of 23 tunnels, the military said.

Airstrikes in Gaza set off huge explosions that turned the night sky over Gaza City orange early this morning. The sound of the blasts mixed with the thud of shelling, often just seconds apart, and the pre-dawn call to prayer from mosque loudspeakers.

Tank shells damaged several houses along the eastern border of the territory, Mr Batniji said. At least 19 fishing boats were burned by Israeli navy shells fired from the Mediterranean Sea, he added.

Officials also said that six Palestinians with German citizenship were among the people killed when an airstrike caused a Gaza high-rise apartment building to partially collapse on Monday.

Saleh Kelani, 49, said his brother Ibrahim Kelani, 53, his wife Taghreed and their five children ages 4 to 12, were killed.

Saleh Kelani said his brother and the five children had German citizenship while the wife did not.

He said his brother lived in Germany for 20 years. Standing outside the morgue of Gaza City's Shifa Hospital, Saleh Kelani said he was waiting for condemnation of Israel's actions by the international community, particularly Germany.

'Where is Germany?' he asked, fighting back tears. 'When one Israeli is killed all the world talks about it. But six with German nationality? Nothing is happening.'

Officials also said that six Palestinians with German citizenship were among the people killed when an airstrike caused a Gaza high-rise apartment building to partially collapse on Monday.Saleh Kelani, 49, said his brother Ibrahim Kelani, 53, his wife Taghreed and their five children ages 4 to 12, were killed

Mourners gather around the bodies of seven members of the Kelani family

A relative bursts into tears as mourners try to comfort him as they gather around the bodies

In Israel, thousands attended the funeral on Monday night of Nissim Sean Carmeli, 21, an Israeli-American soldier from Texas who was killed in the fighting. 'He's a hero to us and he's a hero to everyone,' said Seth Greenberg, a friend who tattooed Carmeli's initials on his neck in the form of a Star of David.



'Even though we know he is looking down on us from heaven and he is with us the whole time we felt that we actually want him a part of us, so we all decided to get a tattoo.' But beyond the grief over the fallen soldiers, concerns were growing in Israel over what many consider to be an even more ominous result: that of an abducted soldier

Abductions of Israeli soldiers have turned in the past into drawn-out mediation with opponents leading to prisoner releases. In 2008, Israel released five Lebanese militants in exchange for the remains of two soldiers killed in the 2006 Lebanon war.

Also in 2006, Hamas-allied militants seized an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid and held him captive in Gaza until Israel traded more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for his return in 2011. Hamas had threatened in the past to kidnap more Israelis and Israel says the militant group's attacks through tunnels that stretch into Israel are for this purpose.

Israeli soldiers kneel during a drill near Israel and Gaza border

Israeli emergency personnel work at the scene after a rocket, fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza, landed in Yahud near Tel Aviv

Israeli soldiers evacuating a wounded soldier from a military helicopter at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba

Smoke and debris from an Israeli strike rise over Gaza City as Israeli airstrikes pummel a wide range of locations along the coastal area and diplomatic efforts intensified to end the two-week war

Smoke rises as flames spread across buildings after Israeli strikes in the Shijaiyah neighborhood in Gaza City

Israel and Egypt have severely restricted movement in and out of Gaza since Hamas seized the territory in 2007

Egypt, Israel and the U.S. back an unconditional cease-fire to end the current round of fighting, to be followed by talks on a possible new border arrangement for Gaza.

Israel and Egypt have severely restricted movement in and out of Gaza since Hamas were elected in 2007. Hamas, with some support from Qatar and Turkey, wants guarantees on lifting the blockade before halting fire. The Islamic militant group has no faith in mediation by Egypt's rulers, who deposed a Hamas-friendly government in Cairo a year ago and tightened restrictions on Gaza - to the point of driving Hamas into its worst financial crisis since its founding in 1987. The border blockade has set Gaza back years, wiping out tens of thousands of jobs through bans on most exports and on imports of vital construction materials Israel says could be diverted by Hamas for military use. Israel allows many consumer goods into Gaza, but experts say Gaza's economy cannot recover without a resumption of exports. It's not clear exactly what Israel and Hamas would each demand in return for agreeing to a truce now, but senior State Department officials said the issue of opening border crossings - potentially into Israel and Egypt - was under discussion. 'We will work to see if there is some way to not only arrive at a cease-fire of some kind but to get to a discussion about the underlying issues,' Mr Kerry said at the start of his meeting with Mr Ban today.

'Nothing will be resolved by any cease-fire, temporary or long, without really getting to those issues at some point and that's what we need to do.' Mr Kerry remained in Cairo on Monday for more meetings with Egyptian officials. There were no plans for face-to-face meetings with officials from Qatar, Turkey, Israel and the West Bank.

