Fierce fighting in Gaza, as toll rises to 518

A day after Israel's deadliest attack on Gaza in recent years killed about 150 people, more than 10 Hamas militants were shot dead on Monday after infiltrating southern Israel.

Two Hamas cells tried to infiltrate Israel to carry out an attack through tunnels from northern Gaza but they were identified by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and an aircraft was dispatched to intercept them, the army said.

"The first cell was struck from the air, and ten of its members were killed", it said.

The second squad tried to approach Niram kibbutz close to Gaza's northeastern tip, where they were engaged in a fierce gun battle with soldiers in which they also fired anti-tank weapons.

Several soldiers were wounded, the army said, without giving further details.

The deaths across Gaza on Monday pushed the Palestinian toll to at least 518 in 14 days of fighting.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip despite the death of his 18 soldiers.

Netanyahu told reporters last night that the?death of the soldiers is "painful and difficult", but Israel will continue its Operation Protective Edge with full speed ahead.

At least 20 bodies were found near the city of Khan Younis after an Israeli airstrike and two people were pulled alive from the rubble, a health official said, adding that over 3,100 Palestinians have been injured so far.

Four Indian tailors working in Gaza for the last two years were evacuated on Sunday unharmed with the help of the Representative Office of India (ROI) in Ramallah, West Bank.

Pushkar Sharma, an Indian-American representative of the UN Access coordination office in Gaza, said the Indians, along with a few other foreign nationals, crossed over through the Erez crossing around noon before the two-hour humanitarian ceasefire brokered by the Red Cross began.

Some more Indians, married to Palestinians or working at Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charities, have decided not to leave the coastal strip because of personal or moral reasons.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council held urgent talks on the conflict late last night, expressing "serious concern" about the rising death toll and demanding "an immediate cessation of hostilities." 

UN chief Ban Ki-moon met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Qatar to end the escalating conflict that has also displaced thousands.