TEMPO.CO, Gaza - The Gaza Health Ministry said the death toll over 12 days now stood at 333. That figure included 77 children, 24 women and 18 senior citizens, and more than 2,385 people have been injured.
Most recently, at least 34 people have been killed in Gaza after Israeli army bombardment intensifies on the second day of a ground offensive it says is aimed at destroying Hamas' cross-border tunnels.
Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker, reporting from Gaza, spoke of "relentless and constant thuds" of tank fire across the eastern border of Gaza on Saturday, "with only around 10 seconds between each".
She said the tanks were concentrated along eastern Gaza, bordering Israel, and that there were many civilian casualties in that area.
Heavy Israeli artillery attacks were reported by an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent across other areas of the enclave. Drones, jets and attacking helicopters patrolled the skies.
In another development yesterday, agencies said Egyptian soldiers in north Sinai prevented an aid convoy of activists from reaching the Rafah border crossing the Gaza Strip.
An army officer at the Balloza checkpoint, one of many along the desert highway to Rafah, told an AFP correspondent that the security situation in the peninsula was too unstable to allow the convoy of 11 buses and 500 activists to pass.
There was a brief scuffle between some activists and soldiers but no arrests were made.
Egypt usually keeps the crossing closed, citing a counter-insurgency operation against fighters in north Sinai, but has allowed entry to Palestinians wounded in the 12-day conflict between Hamas and Israel.
The Egyptian military had earlier said it was sending 500 tonnes of food and medical aids to Gaza.
Hamas has refused to accept a ceasefire with Israel until it receives guarantees that border crossings to Gaza - all but one under Israeli control - will be opened.
ALI HIDAYAT | AL JAZEERAA
