Death toll from Israeli air raids on Gaza rises dramatically

Gaza City, July 10, IRNA -- Israeli air strikes entered its third day raising the Palestinian death toll to at least 67, according to officials in Gaza.

Airstrikes overnight on a house in Khan Younis and a cafeteria on the beach killed at least 15 Palestinians, Gazan officials said.

According to the officials, one airstrike hit a car used by a local news agency bearing media signs, killing the driver, Hamed Shehab, 27.

The Israeli military said it had also hit three Islamic Jihad operatives that it said were involved in manufacturing medium-range rockets.

In another strike, the military said it had hit an operative for Hamas, the Islamic movement group, saying he was involved in firing rockets against Israel.

Rockets were launched toward Israel on Thursday from the northern Gaza Strip. The Palestine section of Defense for Children International, an independent child rights organization, said 14 children age 15 and under were killed in the airstrikes on Tuesday and Wednesday, including four toddlers.

The group issued a list with the names and ages of those killed, saying its Gaza-based fieldworker had verified each of those deaths.

In one case, when seven people died and 25 were wounded in the Israeli strike on the house of the Kaware family in Khan Younis on Tuesday.

Israel said he did not have details yet on the circumstances of the bombing of the beach cafe, called Fun Time, where customers had gathered to watch a World Cup game between the Netherlands and Argentina