Gaza conflict deaths over 800

Efforts to secure a ceasefire between Israel and the militant Hamas movement are intensifying as more people have been killed.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has been in Cairo meeting Egypt's foreign minister and the UN secretary general.
Five Palestinians were killed in the West Bank on Friday, while one Israeli soldier was killed in northern Gaza.
Activists called for a "day of rage" over the deaths of 800 Palestinians in Gaza. Israel has lost 36 people.
Most of the Palestinian deaths have been civilians, while 34 of Israel's dead have been soldiers. One Thai worker was also killed by rocket fire in Israel.
Israeli plainclothes police officers make an arrest after Friday Prayers in East Jerusalem, 25 July Israeli plainclothes police officers make an arrest after Friday Prayers in East Jerusalem
An Israeli plainclothes police officer confronts a suspected Palestinian stone-thrower after Friday Prayers in East Jerusalem, 25 July                      An officer confronts a suspected Palestinian stone-thrower
A Palestinian points a flare at Israeli police officers after Friday Prayers in East Jerusalem, 25 July                A Palestinian points a flare at Israeli police officers
Israeli police watch Palestinians praying in East Jerusalem, 25 July Israeli police watch Palestinians praying in East Jerusalem
Israel launched new air strikes on targets in Gaza on Friday, and said it had killed a senior member of militant group Islamic Jihad.
The Israeli military reported new rocket launches by militants inside the Gaza Strip, with several intercepted.
Israel launched its military offensive on 8 July with the declared objective of stopping Hamas firing rockets into Israel, extending its operation since then to destroy tunnels dug by militants to infiltrate its territory.
Hopes rose for at least a limited deal on Friday as it emerged that Mr Kerry, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and UN chief Ban Ki-moon were planning a news conference for later in the day.
Mr Kerry is expected to leave the region on Friday, whether or not a deal is agreed.
The plan is thought to include provision for a temporary pause in hostilities that could begin as soon as this weekend.
Smoke over the Gaza Strip after Israeli air strikes, 25 July Smoke over the Gaza Strip after Israeli air strikes on Friday
An Israeli troop carrier heads towards the Gaza Strip, 25 July An Israeli troop carrier heads towards the Gaza Strip
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Analysis: Bethany Bell, BBC News, Jerusalem Intensive diplomatic efforts to negotiate an end to the violence are continuing. It is understood that US Secretary of State John Kerry and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon are proposing a two-part ceasefire plan.
The first stage would be a temporary humanitarian truce that would go into effect at the start of the Muslim festival of Eid next week. The pause in hostilities would then, it is proposed, allow negotiations on a more permanent ceasefire.
But it is not clear if the two sides will be able to agree. It is thought that Israel wants to keep its troops on the ground during the temporary ceasefire, to give it more time to destroy the cross-border tunnels. For its part, Hamas is pushing for what it calls a "genuine guarantee" that the blockade on Gaza will be lifted.
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A girl grieves at a funeral in the Qalandia refugee camp near the West Bank city of Ramallah, 25 July A girl grieves at a funeral in the Qalandia refugee camp near the West Bank city of Ramallah
Israel wants to keep its military in Gaza and continue disabling Hamas tunnels.
Any plan must be approved both by Israel's security cabinet and senior Hamas leaders, including Qatar-based Khaled Meshaal.
In an exclusive interview, Mr Meshaal told the BBC he wanted a ceasefire and an end to Israel's blockade as soon as possible.
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal: "There should be a genuine guarantee to lift the siege in Gaza"
The bloodshed has spread to the West Bank, the larger of the two Palestinian territories
  • Three Palestinian men were shot dead in clashes with Israeli soldiers in the village of Beit Ummar, near Hebron, Palestinian officials and medical sources said
  • Two Palestinian men were shot dead in clashes with Jewish settlers and Israeli soldiers near Nablus, Palestinian officials and medical sources said
  • At least two Palestinians died in overnight protests at Qalandia, in the West Bank, after 10,000 protesters massed and clashed with Israeli border police.
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At the scene: Jon Donnison, BBC News, East Jerusalem There has been a huge Israeli security operation around Muslim Friday prayers in the old city, involving more than 2,000 Israeli police. Palestinian men under the age of 50 were forbidden from praying at the al-Aqsa Mosque.
It follows a night of violence in the West Bank. Outside Ramallah, more than 10,000 Palestinians marched towards Jerusalem and clashed with Israeli soldiers. Two Palestinians were killed and more than 200 were wounded, while 29 Israeli police officers were injured.
There is much anger here about the mounting casualties in Gaza. As ever, there is talk about the possibility of a third Palestinian intifada - or uprising. That may or may not take place. But the situation is as tense in the West Bank as at any time in the last five years.
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Israel has been accused of war crimes in a complaint lodged on Friday with the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
It was lodged by French lawyer Gilles Devers, on behalf of Palestinian Justice Minister Saleem al-Saqqa.
Funerals were held for those who died at a UN-run school shelter in Gaza. At least 15 people were killed, includinga six-month-old baby.

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Sandhurst's sheikhs: Why do so many Gulf royals receive military training in the UK? A parade outside the building at Sandhurst Continue reading the main story In today's Magazine The death list that names 5,000 victims Is this woman an apostate? Voices from a WW1 prison camp The Swiss selfie scandal Generations of foreign royals - particularly from the Middle East - have learned to be military leaders at the UK's Sandhurst officer training academy. But is that still a good idea, asks Matthew Teller. Since 1812, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, on the Surrey/Berkshire border, has been where the British Army trains its officers. It has a gruelling 44-week course testing the physical and intellectual skills of officer cadets and imbuing them with the values of the British Army. Alongside would-be British officers, Sandhurst has a tradition of drawing cadets from overseas. Many of the elite families of the Middle East have sent their sons and daughters. 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Sheikh Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa, King Abdullah, Sultan Qaboos Sandhurst alumni: King Hamad of Bahrain, King Abdullah of Jordan and Sultan Qaboos of Oman It's a place where future leaders get to know each other, says Michael Stephens, deputy director of the Royal United Services Institute, Qatar. And Sandhurst gives the UK influence in the Gulf. "The [UK] gets the kind of attention from Gulf policy elites that countries of our size, like France and others, don't get. It gives us the ability to punch above our weight. "You have people who've spent time in Britain, they have… connections to their mates, their teachers. Familiarity in politics is very beneficial in the Gulf context." "For British people who are drifting around the world, as I did as a soldier," says Brigadier Peter Sincock, former defence attache to Saudi Arabia, "you find people who were at Sandhurst and you have an immediate rapport. I think that's very helpful, for example, in the field of military sales." 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Over the years donations like this have saved the UK taxpayer a considerable amount of money." But what happens when Sandhurst's friends become enemies? In 2001, then-prime minister Tony Blair visited Damascus, marking a warming of relations between the UK and Syria. Shortly after, in 2003, Sandhurst was training officers from the Syrian armed forces. Now, of course, Syria is an international pariah. Journalist Michael Cockerell has written about Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi's time at the Army School of Education in Beaconsfield in 1966: "Three years [later], Gaddafi followed a tradition of foreign officers trained by the British Army. He made use of his newfound knowledge to seize political power in his own country." Ahmed Ali Sandhurst-trained Ahmed Ali was a key player in the Egyptian military's removal of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi That tradition persists. In the 1990s Egyptian colonel Ahmed Ali attended Sandhurst. 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"He happened to see me talking to heads of state - the Sultan of Brunei, the Sultan of Oman, the Bahrainis, the Saudis - and he said 'How do you know all these guys?' The answer was because they went to Sandhurst." Today, Sandhurst has reportedly trained more officer cadets from the UAE than from any other country bar the UK. The May 2014 intake included 72 overseas cadets, around 40% of whom were from the Middle East. "In the future," says Maryam al-Khawaja, acting president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, "people will look back at how much Britain messed up in the [Middle East] because they wanted to sell more Typhoon jets to Bahrain, rather than stand behind the values of human rights and democracy." "It's one thing saying we're inculcating benign values, but that's not happening," says Habiba Hamid. Sandhurst is "a relic of the colonial past. They're not [teaching] the civic values we ought to find in democratically elected leaders." line Who else went to Sandhurst? 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