Gaza apartment tower collapses

On Saturday, more than 50 Israeli air strikes killed at least nine people in Gaza. A residential building also collapsed after it was hit in one of the strikes, sending a huge fireball into the sky and wounding at least 22 people.

The Israeli military said the building housed a Hamas operations room, but did not explain why the entire block of 48 apartments was brought down. Gaza police say Israeli aircraft fired a missile warning at dusk, followed five minutes later by two missiles with explosives.

Although Israel has launched some 5,000 airstrikes against Gaza in nearly seven weeks of fighting, it marks the first time an entire high-rise was toppled. Israel said Gaza militants fired at least 93 rockets and mortar shells in retaliation on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, the 47th so far in the conflict, Israeli strikes killed five Palestinians from the same family. At least 86 Palestinians and a four-year-old Israeli boy have been killed since truce talks collapsed on Tuesday, following nine days of calm.

According to the UN, more than 2,100 Palestinians, mostly civilians and including close to 500 children, have been killed since the Gaza war began on July 8. On the Israeli side, 68 people have died, all but four of them soldiers.

On Friday, Hamas executed 18 people it accused of collaborating with Israel.

Mediator Egypt, meanwhile, has urged Israel and Hamas to agree to an open-ended ceasefire and resume indirect talks.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met on Saturday with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in Cairo, in a bid to push the truce talks forward. Any resumption of the indirect negotiations, brokered by Egypt, has not been announced.

The two sides failed to reach an agreement on core demands, with Hamas demanding that Israel lift an eight-year blockade on Gaza, and Israel calling for Hamas' complete disarmament.

jr/hc (AP, AFP)