The death toll from Israel’s latest assault on the Gaza Strip has now hit forty-three. All but one are Palestinian. On Saturday, an Israeli air strike killed a mother and two her of children as they held a family barbecue in the backyard of their home. Another family member was left badly injured. United Nations aid agencies are warning Gaza is on the brink of a humanitarian disaster and say civilians are paying the price of Israel’s attack. The UN says food prices have increased by ten percent in the last three weeks due to Israel’s blockade of the Gaza border. The UN also called on Israel to repair the damage to Gaza’s main power plant. Gaza has been without power for up to eighteen hours per day. In a statement, the agencies said the offensive has: “brought increased misery to hundreds of thousands of people and will wreak far-reaching harm on Palestinian society.” Palestinian leaders continued their pleas for international aid.

• Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat: “We are directly at the eye of a storm as far as a human catastrophe in Gaza, 1.3 million people who have been literally sieged, treated as hostages.”