Nearly 230 Palestinians Killed in Israeli Onslaught on Gaza

Hospitals in Gaza are running out of medical supplies and the Red Cross has warned of acute water shortages.

Meantime, Israel and Hamas are to hold a five-hour ceasefire to allow UN humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reported on Thursday.

The UN asked Israel on Wednesday for a unilateral pause, a UN official said, as renewed air strikes on the enclave threatened a major humanitarian crisis.

The army said Israel has decided that "between 10am (7am GMT) and 3pm (12pm GMT) the Israeli military will cease operational activity within the Gaza Strip and hold its fire".

Israel has launched a new wave of military strikes on the besieged Gaza Strip after tensions raged between Palestinians and Israelis following the burning alive of a Palestinian teen in East al-Quds by Israeli settlers.

16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khdeir’s death sparked a wave of protests across the Palestinian territories earlier this month.

It came a few days after the Israeli military found the dead bodies of three settler teenagers who had been allegedly kidnapped in the occupied West Bank.

Israel was quick to point the finger of blame at the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas. The resistance group, however, strongly rejected the allegations, saying Tel Aviv, which was outraged with the formation of a Palestinian unity government, was looking for a pretext to launch a new aggression against the people of Gaza.

According to the United Nations, nearly 80 percent of the casualties in the Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip have been civilians.