Heavy Gaza fighting ahead of proposed 3-day truce
A man stands in front of a van damaged from a rocket fired from Gaza which landed in the middle of a residential neighborhood in the southern city of Kiryat Gat, Israel, Thursday, July 31, 2014. An Israeli was seriously wounded when a Palestinian rocket exploded in a residential area of the city. Another rocket was intercepted over Tel Aviv by Israel’s rocket defense system. Israeli attacks on Gaza continued today, killing many people as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to destroy the Hamas tunnel network. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Palestinian officials say 17 Palestinians, including 10 members of one family, were killed in Israeli strikes ahead of a planned three-day cease-fire in the Gaza war.
Health official Ashraf al-Kidra says the family members were killed in an airstrike early Friday on their home in the southern town of Khan Younis. Gaza police reported heavy Israeli tank shelling in northern and easternGaza.
The cease-fire was to take effect at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) Friday, under a deal brokered by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and the United Nations. During the lull, Egypt is to host indirect talks between Israel and Hamas in Cairo on a more durable truce.
More than 1,450 Palestinians have been killed since July 8, officials say. Israel lost 61 soldiers and three civilians.
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