RAMALLAH: On Monday morning Gaza's death toll reached 84, according to Al-Jazeera English. As Israel's offensive against Gaza—Operation Pillar of Defense, as the military has dubbed it—enters its sixth day, a mounting number of Palestinian civilians are dying from airstrikes in densely populated neighborhoods and areas in the Gaza Strip. Roughly half the deaths have been women and children, Palestinian medical sources report. Palestinian media sources report that the number of injured exceeded 900 Sunday night. Hospitals are reporting a critical shortage of medical supplies. On Sunday, an Israeli airstrike killed 12 members of the same family when it directly hit a civilian home in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City. The attack, which took the lives of four men, four women, and four children from the Al-Dallou family, has been labeled by several Palestinian factions as a massacre. According to Ma'an News Agency, the Palestinian People's Party condemned the airstrikes on civilians across the strip, notably “the Al-Dallou massacre" in Gaza City. Amid talks of a potential Egyptian-brokered ceasefire, Israeli airstrikes have progressively increased. The military claims to have hit over 1,350 “terror sites" in Gaza since it began the offensive on Wednesday evening, Ma'an News Agency's live blog says. Hamas claims in a statement to have launched over 1,000 rockets at Israel, including on Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, traditionally out of reach of projectiles fired from Gaza. The newly acquired ability to reach the two cities puts roughly 50 percent of Israel's population within reach of rockets. Three Israeli civilians died on Thursday morning when a rocket struck a civilian home in southern Israel. On Sunday Israeli PM Benyamin Netanyahu stated his willingness to expand the operation. Shortly after US President Barack Obama said the United States supports Israel's right to defend itself and its civilian population.
