Sami Abu Zuhri said on Sunday that officials of the Red Cross contacted Hamas and suggested to broker a 3-hour ceasefire to enable ambulances to evacuate injured people and dead bodies.
Hamas agreed to the proposal, but the Israelis refused it, said Abu Zuhri. He highlighted that Israeli forces prevented ambulance services from doing their work.
“The Israeli occupation is committing a war crime in the full sense of the word in Gaza City and trying to conceal the crime from the world,” he charged.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said she was looking into the matter.
Gaza fighters have fired more than 1,760 rockets at Israeli targets since July 8, according to the Israeli military. The military said it has hit more than 2,500 targets in Gaza.
Some 50,000 Palestinians are already staying in United Nations shelters, according to UNRWA, the UN refugee agency for Palestinians.
NTJ/HH