Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip early Sunday left 11 Palestinians dead, emergency services in the territory said.
Nine of the victims were killed in the southern town of Rafah and three other in central Gaza, the sources said.
Netanyahu said in a televised speech on Saturday evening that military action would continue even after that goal was achieved.”After completing the anti-tunnel operation, the IDF will act and continue to act, in accordance with our security needs and only according to our defence needs, until we achieve our objective of restoring security to you, Israel´s citizens,” he said.
Israel began its air and naval offensive against Gaza on July 8 following a surge of cross-border rocket salvoes by Hamas and other guerrillas, later escalating into ground incursions. Shelling exchanges continued on Saturday, pushing the Gaza death toll given by Palestinian officials to 1,675, most of them civilians. Israel has confirmed that 64 soldiers have died in combat, while Palestinian shelling has also killed three civilians in Israel.
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights said 520,000 people had been displaced by the fighting – more than a quarter of Gaza´s population.
A Hamas spokesman said: “Netanyahu will pay for every minute he spends carrying out more aggression against our people.
