Gaza crisis: Netanyahu warns of extended military campaign ahead

Netanyahu has begun speaking. Live (in Hebrew) here.

Palestinian gunmen slipped into Israel from the Gaza Strip on Monday and penetrated a village near the border before being repelled by the army, Israeli television said, Reuters reports:

[TV reports said] that five militants had been killed.

Gaza's dominant Hamas Islamists said in a statement their fighters had killed 10 Israeli soldiers in the incident before returning home safely.

Note that those casualty figures have not been confirmed.

The nature of the casualties in the reported attack in southern Israel Monday are unclear. AP reports:

In Israel, meanwhile, the military said a mortar attack on southern Israel caused "deaths and injuries," but did not disclose further details. Israeli media reported that the attack killed at least four people, which saw military helicopters rushing stretchers away to local hospitals.

Update: The IDF has released a statement saying "4 IDF soldiers were killed along the border of the Gaza Strip as a result of mortar fire."

The notion of a ceasefire in this conflict appears to be in danger of slipping back out of reach. The Guardian's Harriet Sherwood (@harrietsherwood) reports:

The Israel Defence Forces later warned residents of neighbourhoods in northern Gaza – including Sujiai'iya, the scene of some of the most intense fighting in the three-week war – to evacuate immediately, suggesting an escalation of military action was imminent.

Obama administration officials were fuming Monday over a torrent of Israeli criticism of secretary of state John Kerry's performance on Gaza, the Associated Press reports:

In unusually harsh language, officials said the criticism of Kerry could put the relationship between the U.S. and Israel in jeopardy. They also said the personal attacks on Kerry crossed a line and were particularly disappointing at a time of active conflict.

Israeli media commentators have leveled almost nonstop criticism at Kerry in recent days over his attempts to bring Qatar and Turkey two countries viewed by Israel as strong Hamas supporters into the cease-fire negotiations. Kerry was also being accused of abandoning some of Israel's key demands during the negotiations.

In trying to implement the cease-fire over the weekend, "U.S. Secretary of State of State John Kerry ruined everything," wrote columnist Ari Shavit in Monday's Haaretz, Israel's leading liberal newspaper. "Very senior officials in Jerusalem described the proposal that Kerry put on the table as a 'strategic terrorist attack'."

Kerry made no direct mention of the criticism during brief remarks Monday.

Update: The state department echoes the condemnation:

Israeli military drops leaflets into Gaza City listing militants killed in battle - video

US secretary of state John Kerry says work will continue on extending an unconditional ceasefire in Gaza, Guardian Washington correspondent Paul Lewis (@paullewis) reports:

"Our discussions over there succeeded in putting a 12-hour humanitarian ceasefire in place," said Kerry, speaking in Washington after returning from the region.

Kerry said there were, "regrettably," misunderstandings on both sides about the terms of the short pause in fighting.

Kerry said the immediate humanitarian break in the conflict was an essential precursor to a more permanent cessation in hostilities.

"We believe that the momentum generated by a humanitarian ceasefire is the best way to be able to begin to negotiate and find out if you can put in place a sustainable ceasefire – one that addresses all of the concerns."

The secretary of state said that while the underlying causes of the conflict would "obviously not all be resolved" in the context of a sustainable ceasefire, it was essential to begin the process.

"That is the only way, ultimately, this conflict is going to be resolved," he said.

The United Nations has called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza, the Guardian's Harret Sherwood (@harrietsherwood) reports from Jerusalem:

The UN security council issued a presidential statement just after midnight in New York, as the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, was beginning. The move will increase pressure on Israel and Hamas to agree a long-term truce to end the conflict, now in its 21^st day.

The statement called on the parties to the conflict "to accept and fully implement the humanitarian ceasefire into the Eid period and beyond” and "to engage in efforts to achieve a durable and fully respected ceasefire, based on the Egyptian initiative”.

Read the full piece here.

We are resuming live blog coverage of the Gaza crisis with new reports of fatal attacks on both sides, threatening a shaky ceasefire that went into effect Saturday.

A strike near Shifa hospital in Gaza and a separate strike on Shati refugee camp killed at least 10 Palestinians, including children, and wounded at least 46, according to a health official speaking to the Associated Press. The Israeli military has strongly denied responsibility for the strike(s) near the hospital. “However,” reported NBC News, “a NBC News journalist witnessed the attack on the hospital and said it had been fired by an Israeli drone.”

Meanwhile a mortar strike from the Gaza Strip killed four people in southern Israel on Monday, Israeli medical officials said, Reuters has reported (UPDATE: the nature of the casualties in this attack is unclear):

The head of the Magen David Adom ambulance service said on Army Radio that a number of other people had been wounded in the attack and were taken to hospitals.

Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu is expected to speak shortly.