Israeli Assault Kills 44 Gazans, Raising Toll to 285 as Security Council Holds Urgent Meeting

The Gaza death toll hit 285 on Friday as Israel pressed a major ground offensive on the 11th day of an operation to stamp out militant rocket fire, medics said.

And a soldier was killed as the offensive got under way, raising the Israeli death toll to two, the army said.

Forty-four Gazans were killed on Friday, raising the overall Palestinian death toll since July 8 to 285, medics said.

An Israeli soldier was also killed as troops began an offensive on the Gaza periphery aimed at destroying Hamas' network of cross-border tunnels, the army said.

Israeli television said he died by "friendly fire."

The latest Palestinian deaths included five members of a single family -- two men, two women and a child -- killed in tank shelling on their home in northern Gaza's Beit Hanun, emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said.

Shortly before, four children ranging in age from two to 13-years-old were killed in tank shelling east of Gaza City, Qudra said.

Among them were brothers Emad Alwan, seven, and Qasem Alwan, four.

In the southern city of Rafah a man was killed by tank shelling, and in Khan Yunis, a 23-year-old died of wounds sustained earlier in the week.

The deaths raised the toll in Gaza during the 11 days of the conflict to 285, as Israel pressed a ground operation it announced on Thursday night.

Earlier, three people were killed in Khan Yunis in the south, one man killed in Nusseirat in central Gaza and another death was reported in a cemetery in the northern Gaza Strip, Qudra said.

Elsewhere, medics found the bodies of another four people: two of them just to the east of the southern city of Rafah, and another two in Khan Yunis, one of them a 17-year-old, he said. 

Another eight people had earlier been killed in and around the northern town of Beit Hanun, among them three teenagers. 

And in the southern city of Khan Yunis, six people from two families were killed, as well as another three who were killed by tank fire. 

Attacks in Rafah, which straddles the border with Egypt, claimed five lives in several different attacks, among them a five-month-old baby. 

To the east of Gaza City, another person was killed in Shejaiya, and medics also found the body of a man killed in a strike south of the city. 

Figures provided by the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights show civilians account for more than 80 percent of the victims of Israel's assault since July 8 to halt rocket fire by militants of the Islamist movement Hamas which controls the coastal strip.

At least 2,200 Palestinians have also been wounded.

Since the Israeli operation began, more than 1,207 rockets fired from Gaza have struck Israel, and another 333 have been shot down by the country's Iron Dome air defense system, army figures show.

On the Israeli side, a civilian was killed by rocket fire earlier this week, while four others were seriously injured.

Since the Israeli operation began before dawn on July 8, at least 1,164 rockets fired from Gaza have struck Israel, and another 320 have been shot down by the Iron Dome air defense system, army figures show.

On the Israeli side, a civilian was killed by rocket fire earlier this week, and a soldier was killed overnight in Gaza. Another four Israelis have been seriously injured.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will leave Saturday for the Middle East to meet Israelis and Palestinians, a senior official told an emergency meeting of the U..N Security Council on Friday evening.

Under secretary general for political affairs Jeffrey Feltman said a two-state solution to the conflict was the only way to break the "seemingly endless cycle" of Israeli-Palestinian violence. 

"The secretary general is prepared to do his part. He will leave for the region tomorrow to express solidarity with the Israelis and Palestinians," Feltman told emergency talks at the Council.

The U.N. chief's visit will help Israelis and Palestinians "in coordination with regional and international actors, end the violence and find a way forward," Feltman said.

The senior official reiterated U.N. calls for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and radical Palestinian group Hamas.

"Unless we address the root causes of the current escalation this dreadful violence will occur again and again. We cannot return to the status quo," he said.

"Once calm is restored it is imperative to immediately tackle the underlying causes," he added, listing the smuggling of weapons, the reopening Gaza's crossing points and Palestinian governance.