The Palestinian death toll reached 650 in the 15-day conflict, Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra told The Associated Press early Wednesday. Most of them are civilians. Israel also reported that two more of its soldiers died, bringing the military's death toll to 29. Two Israeli civilians have also been killed.
On Tuesday, the U.N. also said that Palestinian civilians in densely populated Gaza had no place to hide from Israel's military offensive and children are paying the heaviest price. "There is literally no safe place for civilians," Jens Laerke, spokesman of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told a news briefing in Geneva.