SIDEWALKING: Death From Above

A Palestinian man carries the dead body of a child from the al-Dallu family out from the rubble after an Israeli missile struck a family home killing at least seven members of the same family in Gaza City on November 18, 2012. Via AFP

CBS NEWS: An Israeli missile ripped through a two-story home in a residential area of Gaza City on Sunday, killing at least 11 civilians, including four young children and an 81-year-old woman, in the single deadliest attack of Israel’s offensive against Islamic militants. A similar scene unfolded elsewhere in the city early Monday, when an airstrike leveled two houses belonging to a single family, killing two children and two adults and injuring 42 people, including children, said Gaza heath official Ashraf al-Kidra. Rescue workers were frantically searching for 12 to 15 members of the same family under the rubble. Shortly after, Israeli aircraft bombarded the ruins of the former national security compound in Gaza City. Al-Kidra says flying shrapnel killed one child and wounded others living nearby. In all, 81 Palestinians, about half of them civilians, have been killed in the five-day onslaught and 720 have been wounded. Three Israeli civilians have died from Palestinian rocket fire and dozens have been wounded. MORE

UPDATE: According to the IDF, the death toll in the coastal territory since the operation began has reached 95 people, one-third of them uninvolved in the conflict. MORE

CBS NEWS: As Israeli airstrikes into Hamas-controlled Gaza expand from government targets into civilian areas, President Obama reiterated his support of Israel’s “right to defend itself.” “[T]here is no country on earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders. So we are fully supportive of Israel’s right to defend itself from missiles landing on people’s homes,” Mr. Obama said at a news conference in Bangkok during an international trip to Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia. “Let’s understand what the precipitating event here was that’s causing the current crisis, and that was an ever-escalating number of missiles that were landing not just in Israeli territory but in areas that are populated,” the president added. Hamas launched rockets into Israel leading to the current crisis. MORE


Video via Israeli Defense Forces.