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ISRAELI SHELLING killed 14 members of two Palestinian families yesterday, raising the fatality toll to more than 90 since Israel began its ground offensive on Saturday. According to UN and Palestinian health authority sources, at least 535 Palestinians have been killed, of which an estimated 28 per cent were women and children, and 2,450 wounded, 40 per cent women and children, in the offensive Israel launched on December 27th.

Humanitarian agencies characterised the situation of the Strip's 1.5 million people as a "catastrophe" and an "extreme emergency". The two functioning crossings into Gaza, Israel's Karem Shalom, meant to handle a limited volume of goods, and Egypt's Rafah, a passenger terminal not equipped for massive shipments of goods, cannot cope with need.