Israel continues attacks on Gaza and West Bank

On the 17th day of Israeli aggression in Gaza, 'Operation Protective Edge', the Palestinian death toll has risen to over 730 in Gaza, with another 4,600 Gazans wounded.

In the West Bank, the Israeli military has broken into and searched homes, kidnapped and imprisoned nearly a hundred Palestinians, including over a dozen governmental legislators, in the past couple of weeks.

Despite the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu's, claims to the contrary, the U.N. Human Rights Center, has initiated investigations into alleged Israeli war crimes during 'Operation Protective Edge'. This investigation is especially in response to last weekend's massacre in the Gazan City neighborhood of Shujayea in which heavy tank and artillery shelling killed 72 Palestinians, the majority of whom were women and children.

On Tuesday, Israel shelled a U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) girl's school in central Gaza that was being used as a shelter for hundreds of Palestinians who had fled from Israeli military destroyed neighborhoods, including Shujayea.

John Kerry is currently in the Middle East speaking with various leaders from Qatar, Egypt, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority. He has urged Hamas to accept the Egyptian-led ceasefire that calls for the end of armed conflict and after the truce, then the US will encourage discussions about easing the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip. So far Hamas has rejected this offer and insists that there can be no truce without an agreement to stop the strangulation of Gaza by the seven year long siege.

During the Israeli military attacks on Gaza, 33 Israeli soldiers have died.