10th day under attack: death toll in Gaza reaches 534

Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News

The bodies of three children from the same family killed in Gaza by the Israeli shelling on Monday – Photo by WAFA Monday January 05, 2009 The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that Israeli Army shelling on the Gaza Strip this morning has left 17 Palestinians dead. The Ministry has said that among the 17 killed this morning were five children and a family of seven, who were killed when Israeli jet fighters shelled their home. Medics reported that the family members where left to bleed to death because the ambulances could not reach them due to Israeli shelling in the area. On Monday, Israeli tanks invading Gaza shelled the home of Arafa Abed Al Dayim, killing four people and injuring at least 40 others. Local sources said that Abed Al Dayim was killed on Sunday when the ambulance he works in was attacked by the Israeli Army. Palestinians gathered today in his home to pay their respects following his funeral. Meanwhile, the death toll in Gaza by Monday reached 534 with 2,530 injured including 300 in critical condition. Israel started its military offensive last Saturday, December 27th, 2008, a week and a half after the six-month-long Egyptian-mediated ceasefire finished, on December 16th 2008. Although Israel accuses the Hamas government in Gaza of breaking the truce, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights documented hundreds of truce violations by the Israeli military, including three violations on the very day the truce began, on June 19th, 2008. Israeli warplanes started the offensive by shelling all Palestinian security posts in Gaza. In the following days the air raids were expanded. Hospitals, homes, blacksmith workshops, a television station, schools and mosques were targeted. Day and night, the entire Palestinian coastal region has been under attack for the past 10 days.