GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip: A Gaza park was attacked Monday, killing at least 10 Palestinians, including children, a Palestinian health official said. Israelis and the Palestinians traded blame for the strike.
Children were playing on a swing when the strike hit the park in the Shati refugee camp on the edge of Gaza City, said Ayman Sahabani, head of the emergency room at nearby Shifa Hospital.
He gave the death toll and said 46 people also were wounded.
The strike on the park occurred a few minutes after the hospital’s outpatient clinic was hit, leaving several people wounded. Camera crews were prevented from filming the area of impact at Shifa.
Gaza’s police operations room, Civil Defense and Sahabani said the deaths and injuries were caused by Israeli airstrikes.
Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesman, denied Israel was involved. “This incident was carried out by Gaza terrorists whose rockets fell short and hit the Shifa Hospital and the Beach (Shati) camp,” he said.
The strikes occurred on a day of heavy fighting after a temporary humanitarian cease-fire as international efforts intensified to end the three-week war between Israel and Hamas militants.
Israeli jets struck several sites in Gaza and rockets continued to fall on Israel, the Israeli military said, disrupting a relative lull in the Gaza war at the start of a major Muslim holiday.
The United Nations on Monday called for an “immediate” cease-fire in the fighting that has already killed over 1,040 Palestinians, 43 Israeli soldiers and three civilians on the Israeli side. On Sunday, President Barak Obama telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to push for an immediate end to the conflict.
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Goldenberg reported in Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Yousur Alhlou in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
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