Five killed and 31 injured in Gaza as fighting continues

Five Palestinians, including a child, were killed and 31 others injured by several Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip on Friday, Palestinian Health Ministry spokesman said.

"This raises the number of Palestinian deaths in the current Israeli offensive to 1898," Ashraf al-Qodra told Anadolu Agency.

According to Qodra, the southern Gaza Strip experienced heavy bombardment, with an Israeli drone pounding Khan Younis town and killing three members of the same family, while a separate blast shook farmland near Rafah city. One Palestinian was killed in the attack, with social media reports saying that a further large-scale blast rocked the town late on Friday.   

Earlier in the day, a 10-year-old boy was killed in an Israeli strike on a mosque. Further strikes also caused damage to farmland and buildings in southern and western Gaza, local Palestinian sources said.

West Bank Clashes 

Meanwhile, protests in solidarity with Gaza broke out again on Friday evening, with one Palestinian reportedly killed by Israeli gunfire in Ramallah. A further seven Palestinians were injured during the Ramallah protest. 

Demonstrations similarly turned violent in Hebron, where 40 Palestinians were reportedly injured, Palestinian news agency Ma'an said. 

Smaller skirmishes with Israeli police were also reported in several villages in the Qalqiliya district where four Palestinians were injured. A day of rage is now expected to take place tomorrow throughout the West Bank, with further clashes expected. 

Diplomacy Wars 

The latest upswing in violence comes after a 72-hour ceasefire expired at 8am this morning (0500 GMT). Israel, Hamas and Islamic Jihad have all since resumed their campaigns. 

Despite the ceasefire's conclusion, Cairo-based peace talks are still ongoing with Palestinian sources earlier in the day telling Ma'an that a temporary deal to end the fighting had been made. 

However, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri has stressed that the two sides have not been able to come to an agreement.  

"We have not yet received a document with the Israeli answer to our demands," Zuhri told reporters on Friday evening. "Just yesterday, we received a memorandum of understanding from the Egyptian side, and this document did not respond to any of our requests - the airport, the sea port, the buffer zone, the expansion of the fishing area, etc. 

"There was also no explicit mention of the lifting of the siege....We think Israel is dragging its feet. They did not respond to our demands and has not done a thing to show that there is a reason to extend the cease-fire. Now all options are open....However, the door to continued conversations is not closed. The decision to comply with our requirements is in Israeli hands."

More than fifty rockets have been fired at Israel since the expiry of a 72-hour truce, a spokesman for the Israeli military said.

The majority of rockets were either intercepted by the Iron Dome missile shield or exploded open areas in Israel, although 12 landed prematurely within the Gaza Strip, Avichay Adraee said on Twitter, without stating the fate of the remaining rockets.

One Israeli soldier and one civilian, have been injured in the attacks, Israeli officials said.

"Israel will not negotiate under fire," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesman Ofir Gendelman wrote on his Twitter account.

"Israel will act to protect its citizens while making every effort not to harm civilians in Gaza," he said.

The spokesman accused Palestinian faction Hamas of violating an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

"Hamas broke the ceasefire & bears responsibility to any harm that may be caused to Gazans," he added.

Operation Protective Edge 

Tuesday's 72-hour ceasefire was brokered following a month of incessant Israeli strikes against the Gaza Strip that left 9,817 Palestinians injured. Two Israeli civilians and 64 soldiers were also killed in the fighting. Dozens of Israeli civilians in southern Israel were also injured. 

Palestinian factions have linked the extension of the ceasefire to Israel's approval of their demands, including lifting a years-long blockade on the Gaza Strip and the creation of a seaport. The various Palestinian factions say they were united in 

The Gaza Strip, home to 1.8 million Palestinians, has been reeling under a crippling Israeli blockade since 2006.