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On Monday the United Nations Security Council called for an “immediate and unconditional humanitarian cease-fire” in the Gaza conflict between Hamas and Israel.

The three-week long fighting has claimed more than 1,035 Palestinian lives and 43 Israeli soldiers.

But on the same day as the emergency meeting was called to push the cease-fire, a hospital in Gaza was reportedly hit.

According to CNN:

Hamas-run television aired Monday what it says are live images from Shifa Hospital after an Israeli drone made a “direct” strike. The station has shown live footage of at least one body, seemingly dead, in what appears to be an emergency room.

The Israel Defense Forces told CNN it is “looking into the incident.”

The number of casualties remains unclear.

In Israel, at least two Israelis were severely wounded Monday when a mortar shell struck the Eshkol region, Israeli rescue services said.

But the night proved mostly quiet as Palestinians started celebrating the three-day Eid al-Fitr holiday that caps the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Israel mostly held its fire overnight, shelling only a site in the northern Gaza Strip in response to rockets fired from there. The Israeli military said, however, that it would continue to destroy underground tunnels that militants had dug to try and infiltrate Israeli territory.

The cease-fire, however, is being urged intensely by the UN.

In an emergency midnight meeting, the U.N. Security Council urged Israel and Hamas, the militant group that runs Gaza, to “accept and fully implement the humanitarian cease-fire into the Eid period and beyond,” allowing for the delivery of urgently needed assistance to Palestinians, who cannot leave the territory.

The statement also called on Israel and Hamas to “engage in efforts to achieve a durable and fully respected cease-fire, based on the Egyptian initiative.” Earlier Sunday, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued his own personal appeal for a week-long cease-fire.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu isn’t ready to comply, however. According to the Washington Post:

Netanyahu heaped scorn on the U.N. statement, saying it focused on “the needs of a murderous terrorist organization that is attacking Israeli civilians and does not address Israel’s security needs, including the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.”

In a telephone conversation, Netanyahu told Ban that the United Nations had ignored Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians and the group’s use of civilians as human shields.

Netanyahu warned, “Israel will continue to deal with the terrorist tunnels, and this is only the first step in the demilitarization.”

Still, he told CNN on Sunday that he hopes for sustained calm “as soon as possible.” The White House said that in a conversation between the president and Netanyahu on Sunday, Obama condemned Hamas’ attacks while reaffirming “Israel’s right to defend itself.”

The President also “reiterated the United States’ serious and growing concern about the rising number of Palestinian civilian deaths and the loss of Israeli lives, as well as the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza.”

We’ll keep you updated with the latest.

SOURCE: CNN, WashPost | VIDEO SOURCE: News Inc.

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