Middle East - Deadly strike hits Gaza market despite four-hour 'truce' - France 24

Middle East - Deadly strike hits Gaza market despite four-hour 'truce' - France 24:

At least 17 people were killed in an Israeli air strike on a packed Gaza market on Wednesday that followed soon after Israel said it would observe a four-hour humanitarian ceasefire beginning at 12pm (GMT).

Thick black smoke billowed over the site, located in the Shejaiya neighbourhood, as at least five ambulances raced to the scene where bodies lay strewn on the ground, an AFP correspondent said.

At least another 200 people were wounded, medics said.

The four-hour truce was supposed to allow Gaza's battered population of 1.8 million to go out in safety to stock up on goods, and for medics to evacuate the dead and wounded.

Instead, there was further bloodshed, with Israeli tank shelling and air strikes killing 106 Palestinians and wounding hundreds more on Wednesday, medics said, hiking the overall death toll in Gaza to 1,336.

The Israeli army said three of its troops had also been killed in Gaza, raising the number of soldiers killed to 56 since the operation began on July 8.

Israel had said its truce would not apply in places were troops were "currently operating", hours after the army made what it called a "significant advance" into the narrow coastal strip.

Hamas denounced the four-hour lull as a publicity stunt, saying it had "no value