Beit Hanoun

The Israeli army has confirmed the killing of a Hamas commander in an airstrike in the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.

The Israeli air force carried out attacks on Hamas sites in the Gaza Strip early today, Palestinian security sources said, just hours after rockets from the enclave hit southern Israel.

Ali Wahdan, a maths teacher from Gaza, lost his wife, 11 members of his family and a leg to Israeli bombardment of the town of Beit Hanoun, in the north of the Gaza Strip, during last year's war between Israel and Hamas.

Inside the children's ward at Gaza 's Al Shafi hospital, we meet Noor, just six years old. She was shifted from home in Beit Hanoun, in north Gaza, to a nearby United Nations school.

Hamas said it fired five rockets at Israel late Saturday after rejecting Israel's offer to extend a 12-hour humanitarian cease-fire by four hours, casting new doubt on international efforts to broker an end to 19 days of fighting.

Thousands of Gaza residents who had fled Israel-Hamas fighting streamed back to devastated border areas during a lull Saturday to find large-scale destruction: scores of homes were pulverized, wreckage blocked roads and power cables dangled in the streets.

Israel-Hamas fighting looked headed for escalation after US Secretary of State John Kerry failed Friday to broker a weeklong truce as a first step toward a broader deal and Israel's defense minister warned Israel might soon expand its Gaza ground operation "significantly."

The Israeli army has confirmed the killing of a Hamas commander in an airstrike in the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.

The Israeli air force carried out attacks on Hamas sites in the Gaza Strip early today, Palestinian security sources said, just hours after rockets from the enclave hit southern Israel.

Ali Wahdan, a maths teacher from Gaza, lost his wife, 11 members of his family and a leg to Israeli bombardment of the town of Beit Hanoun, in the north of the Gaza Strip, during last year's war between Israel and Hamas.

Inside the children's ward at Gaza 's Al Shafi hospital, we meet Noor, just six years old. She was shifted from home in Beit Hanoun, in north Gaza, to a nearby United Nations school.

Hamas said it fired five rockets at Israel late Saturday after rejecting Israel's offer to extend a 12-hour humanitarian cease-fire by four hours, casting new doubt on international efforts to broker an end to 19 days of fighting.

Thousands of Gaza residents who had fled Israel-Hamas fighting streamed back to devastated border areas during a lull Saturday to find large-scale destruction: scores of homes were pulverized, wreckage blocked roads and power cables dangled in the streets.

Israel-Hamas fighting looked headed for escalation after US Secretary of State John Kerry failed Friday to broker a weeklong truce as a first step toward a broader deal and Israel's defense minister warned Israel might soon expand its Gaza ground operation "significantly."