GAZA CITY: Israel pummelled Gaza with new strikes on Saturday, as it was poised to unilaterally halt a 22-day-old war on Hamas that has killed nearly 1,200 Palestinians and left much of the enclave in ruins.
A woman and a child were killed in an Israeli strike on a UN-run school in the northern town of Beit Lahiya where civilians had taken refuge from fierce clashes between Israeli ground troops and Palestinian fighters, medics said.
Elsewhere in the territory, a two-year-old baby and three other people were killed as Israel hammered Gaza with some 50 raids on tunnels, rocket launchers and suspected weapons stores including two mosques, medics and the army said.
The raids came ahead of a meeting of the Israeli security cabinet later on Saturday that is expected to approve an end to the war after the Jewish state won pledges from Washington and Cairo to help prevent arms smuggling into the Islamist-run enclave from Egypt.
Under the terms of the proposal, Israel would silence its guns even without a reciprocal agreement from Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since mid-2007, a senior government official told media on condition of anonymity. Israeli troops would remain inside the territory for an unspecified period, he said.
Since Israel unleashed Operation Cast Lead on December 27, at least 1,188 Palestinians, including 410 children, have been killed and 5,285 wounded.
The UN General Assembly on Friday demanded an immediate and durable ceasefire in Gaza leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces.
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