Ceasefire Over: Toll in Gaza Hits 87, 13 Israeli Troops

Deadliest day as ground offensive grinds on
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 20, 2014 11:09 AM CDT
Ceasefire Over: Toll in Gaza Hits 87, 13 Israeli Troops
Palestinian medics carry a dead body found under the rubble of a home destroyed by an Israeli strike in the Shijaiyah neighborhood of Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, Sunday, July 20, 2014. Hundreds of panicked residents have fled the neighborhood which they say has come under heavy tank fire from Israeli...   (Hatem Moussa)

This morning's two-hour humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza was officially over at 8:30am Eastern, but in reality it didn't last an hour and the death toll continues to rise from the heavy shelling. The number getting attention is the 13 infantry soldiers that Israel is reporting were killed overnight, reports the AP, bringing total military casualties to 18. But the number of Palestinians killed in the nearly two-week-old conflict has soared to at least 425, and the BBC reports that 87 people were killed today alone. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas blasted Israel's ground offensive, calling it a "massacre." (More Gaza stories.)

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