Summary The UNSC opened urgent talks on efforts to strike a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) - US President Barack Obama called for an "immediate ceasefire" between Israel and Hamas on Sunday, after the bloodiest day of fighting in Gaza raised the number of Palestinians killed to 501.
The United Nations Security Council opened urgent talks on efforts to strike a ceasefire deal as Israel ramped up a major military offensive with fresh strikes Monday in the Palestinian territory.
The Palestinian death toll soared to 501 after the bloodiest single day in Gaza in five years, with a spokesman for the enclave's emergency services saying more than a third of Sunday's 120 victims were women and children.
The Israeli army said 13 soldiers had been killed inside Gaza on Sunday, raising to 18 the number of soldiers killed since the ground operation began late on Thursday.
- Diplomatic push -
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During the urgent Security Council talks Palestinian envoy Ryad Mansour called for decisive steps to end the violence, and voiced frustration with what he termed the top world body's failure to take a strong stand.
"The Council failed again and again to shoulder its responsibility," Mansour told reporters.
Diplomats said no formal statement was expected to emerge from the session.
Speaking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by telephone early Monday, Obama expressed his concern over the deaths on both sides, the White House said in a statement.
In their second call in three days, Obama "reaffirmed Israel's right to defend itself" and called for an "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza.
US Secretary of State John Kerry was flying to Cairo on Monday for meetings with senior officials from Egypt and other countries.
British Prime Minister David Cameron also spoke with Netanyahu, reiterating "the UK's strong support for Israel's right to take proportionate action to defend itself from", while expressing condolences over the Israeli deaths and concern over the "mounting civilian casualties in Gaza."
Cameron agreed with Netanyahu that the way out of the "spiral of violence" was through the Egyptian ceasefire initiative, a spokesman for Cameron said.
Ceasefire discussions between Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and Palestinian president in Qatar were due to take place on Monday after being delayed by a day.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon was also in Doha where he urged Israel to "exercise maximum restraint".
"Too many innocent people are dying...(and) living in constant fear," he told a news conference in Doha.
In the early hours of Monday Israeli jets carried out strikes throughout Gaza, including in southern Rafah and Khan Yunis and northern Beit Lahiya.
Witnesses said warplanes had bombed the home of Hamas member Imad al-Alami in Gaza City, as well as the Khan Yunis home of head of security and police in Gaza, General Saleh Abu Sharekh. No injuries were reported in either attack.
On Sunday thousands of Palestinians fled from Shejaiya, near Gaza City, Shejaiya, after a night of heavy shelling which killed 72, an AFP correspondent reported.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA has opened 61 of its schools to shelter more than 81,000 people who have fled their homes.
The Doctors Without Borders charity urged Israel to "stop bombing civilians trapped in the Gaza Strip", noting the majority of the injured arriving in the Al-Shifa hospital were women and children.
"While the official line is that the ground offensive is aimed at destroying tunnels, what we see on the ground is that bombing is indiscriminate and that those who are dying are civilians," the French NGO said in a statement.
