Palestinian Official Warns Attack Will Not Bring Peace

Mohammad Shtayyeh (sh-TAY'-uh), a senior Palestinian official, says Israeli aggression will not bring peace to the region, and will only bring more fighting instead, according to The Associated Press.

Shtayyeh says people under siege will react to defend themselves and that is what is happening in Gaza, the AP reported.

He says the only answer is for Israel to accommodate Palestinian demands for ending occupation and for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, according to the AP.

Shtayyeh is the minister of the Palestinian Economic Council for Research and Development and spoke on CNN's "State of the Union," the AP reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his nation's efforts to secure itself will not yield despite growing concern about deaths at the hands of Israel's lethal force, according to the AP.

Palestinian refugees from Israel's Gaza offensive emerged from shelters as a brief truce began on Saturday to find many neighbourhoods destroyed and animals roaming the streets unattended, the AP reported.

The 12-hour humanitarian truce agreed by Israel and Palestinian militants came as the United States and regional powers urgently sought a way to end almost three weeks of conflict that has killed over 900 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and 39 Israelis, mostly soldiers, according to the AP.

Palestinian medics said 61 bodies had so far been pulled from the rubble on Saturday in border areas of the Gaza Strip, where Israeli forces appeared to have largely withdrawn, the AP reported.

Israel says its ground incursion launched on Sunday aimed to destroy militant tunnels and it takes pains to avoid civilian deaths, having warned hundreds of thousands of people in the endangered areas to flee their advance, according to the AP

Netanyahu insisted Israel is not targeting civilians but showed little willingness to ease its military actions against the Islamic militant group Hamas, the AP reported. "Hamas is a terror organization that is committed to our destruction," Netanyahu said.