Meanwhile dozens of Israelis rallied Wednesday against their government’s ongoing offensive in the Gaza Strip. The demonstrators marched on Israel’s border with Gaza.

• Peace Now director Yariv Oppenheimer: “We came here to protest against the Israeli policy that doesn’t talk with the Palestinian government. We think that the only way to solve the problem in Gaza and in the West Bank is by starting a political negotiations and eventually reaching an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.”

According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, two hundred and forty Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. One in five of the dead were children.