UN calls for immediate truce as death toll in Gaza tops 500

The U.N. Security Council called for an "immediate ceasefire" as Israel pressed on with a blistering assault on Gaza on July 21 taking the Palestinian death toll above 500.

U.S. President Barack Obama echoed the call in a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu early July 21, as Secretary of State John Kerry headed to the region to join true efforts.

A fresh air strike on July 21 morning killed a family of nine, including seven children, after a weekend of incessant shelling by land, sea and air sent thousands of terrified civilians fleeing their homes.

A man was also killed in a strike on a motorbike, taking the Palestinian death toll to 502 as the Israeli offensive entered its 14th day, medics said.

The Israeli army said 13 soldiers had been killed inside Gaza on July 20, raising to 18 the number of soldiers killed since a ground operation began late on July 18.

Gaza's emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said many of the more than 150 Palestinians killed on July 20 - the bloodiest day of fighting in Gaza in years - were women and children.

The Security Council held urgent talks on the conflict, expressing "serious concern about the growing numbers of casualties." "The members of the Security Council call for an immediate cessation of hostilities," said Rwandan ambassador Eugene Richard Gasana, whose country chairs the 15-member council.

Late July 20, the armed wing of the Islamist Hamas movement, which dominates Gaza, claimed it had kidnapped an Israeli soldier, prompting celebrations in the streets of Gaza City and West Bank towns.

"The Israeli soldier Shaul Aaron is in the hands of the Qassam Brigades," a spokesman using the nom de guerre Abu Obeida said...