'Gate of hell' opened in Gaza massacre

Grinning Israeli tank commanders have been pictured flashing the victory signs as they blast their way through Gaza in the bloodiest day of the offensive so far - as one resident of the troubled region said: 'The gate of hell has opened.'

At least 65 people have been killed since this morning's dawn strike on Gaza City's Shijaiyah neighbourhood - including the son, daughter-in-law and two small grandchildren of a senior Hamas leader.

Hamas says it has captured an Israeli soldier - a scenario that has proven to be fraught with difficulties for the country in the past - but Israel's U.N. Ambassador has denied the claims.

The neighbourhood has come under heavy tank fire as Israel widened its ground offensive against Hamas, causing hundreds of residents to flee.

The dead and wounded - including dozens of women and children - have reportedly been left in streets, with ambulances unable to approach.

 

The coffin of killed Israeli soldier Amotz Greenberg at his funeral in the cemetery of Hod Hasharon in Israel

Israel announced it has lost 13 soldiers, including officers, in the past 48 hours of the incursion into the Gaza Strip to locate and clear Hamas tunnels

A family member of Rubel mourns over his grave. Rubel was killed in a fighting with Palestinian militants in Gaza on Saturday

Early this morning, the wounded from Shijaiyah were rushed to Gaza City's central Shifa Hospital. Frantic parents carried children wounded by shrapnel and the emergency room quickly overflowed, forcing doctors to treat some patients on mattresses in a hallway.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Hamas' armed wing said on Sunday the group had captured an Israeli soldier during fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Speaking on a Hamas television station, the masked spokesman, Abu Ubaida, said: 'We have captured a Zionist soldier and the occupation has not admitted that.'

The claims raised the spectre of Gilad Shalit, who was captured by Hamas in 2006 and only released in exchange for 1,027 prisoners - many convicted of terror offences - in 2011.

Israel's U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor later insisted there was no kidnapped Israeli soldier and dismissed Hamas's televised announcement.

'There's no kidnapped Israeli soldier and those rumours are untrue,' Prosor told reporters at the United Nations as the Security Council held an emergency meeting on the escalating crisis between Israel and Palestinians.

Several diplomats are tweeting about the meeting. French Ambassador Gerard Araud tweeted that the meeting is being held at the request of council member Jordan. The U.N. spokesman's office says it cannot confirm the meeting.

Israeli soldiers flash the victory sign on their armoured personnel carrier (APC) at an army deployment near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip

A Palestinian boy, who medics said was wounded by Israeli shelling, receives treatment at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City

The mass casualties in the Shejaia district in northeast Gaza appeared to be the heaviest since Israel launched its offensive on the Palestinian territory on July 8

An injured Palestinian family cram into a car as they arrive at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. Early this morning, the wounded from Shijaiyah were rushed to Gaza City's central Shifa Hospital

A Palestinian woman wearing clothes stained with the blood of other relatives, who medics said were wounded in Israeli shelling, cries at a hospital in Gaza City

A Palestinian carries a wounded girl in the emergency room of Shifa hospital in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip

A Palestinian woman, who fled her house following an Israeli ground offensive, stays at a United Nations-run school in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. At least 20 Palestinians were killed on Sunday by Israeli shelling in a Gaza neighbourhood, witnesses and health officials said