Updated 16.42
The Irish government has announced funding of €500,000 for the United Nations' emergency appeal for families affected by the conflict in Gaza.
The funding will provide urgently-needed food, shelter and healthcare to thousands of families, many of whom have had to flee their homes.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan said "I totally condemn the major escalation in violence and civilian casualties which we are now witnessing on the ground in Gaza and Israel".
"The Irish Government has consistently called for an immediate ceasefire in order to avoid further loss of life and suffering. This is now more imperative than ever in light of the developments over the weekend".
"The people of Gaza and Israel have the right to live in peace and security and without the threat of indiscriminate violence" he added.
He will meet with European Union Foreign Ministers in Brussels tomorrow to discuss the conflict.
Meanwhile four people have been killed and a further 70 injured after Israeli tank shells hit a hospital in central Gaza, according to Palestinian medics.
30 of those wounded in the attack were reportedly medical staff.
Health official Ashraf al-Kidra said 12 shells hit the intensive care unit, surgery department and administration building at the al Aqsa hospital in the town of Deir el-Balah.
Footage on Hamas' al Aqsa TV station showed chaotic scenes at the facility.
Fayez Zidane, a doctor at the hospital, told the station "There is still shelling at the hospital".
In an earlier Israeli airstrike, 28 members of the same family were killed near Gaza's southern border with Egypt, according to medics. Meanwhile, the Israeli army claimed it killed more than 10 Hamas militants who entered Israel via cross-border tunnels.
Speaking in Washington today, US President Barack Obama says he is pushing for an immediate ceasefire:
Former Irish President Mary Robinson says Israel is using 'disproportionate' force in Gaza.
The former President - and UN special envoy for climate change told Newstalk Breakfast earlier that the UN has proven itself to be "ineffective" but says Israel's offensive must be brought to a swift end:
Grainy video released by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) showed what appeared to be Hamas gunmen in a firefight with Israeli forces before they were hit by an airstrike.
The film showed several armed men lying in the grass near what Israel claimed was the exit to the tunnel on the Israeli side. After exchanging fire the men appear to retreat before they are hit by what Israel claimed was an airstrike.
There was no way of verifying the video.
One of the tunnels came out just half a mile from the southern Israeli town of Sderot, the IDF said.
Military radio claimed the "second terrorist squad" tried to approach Niram kibbutz, close to Gaza's northeastern tip, where they engaged in gunfire with Israeli soldiers.
Several soldiers were hurt, the radio report said, without giving further details.
Hamas' armed wing the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades claimed it had carried out "an operation behind enemy lines in response to the massacre in Shejaiya [Shaja'iya]".
The attack came as the UN Security Council urged an "immediate cessation of hostilities" in a call echoed by US President Barack Obama in a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Channel Four News foreign affairs correspondent in Gaza, Jonathan Miller, earlier told Newstalk Breakfast that the scenes in Gaza are horrific:
Israel's continued aerial bombardment has resulted in an exodus of some 35,000 civilians, according to officials. People fleeing Israeli shelling in Shaja'iya at the weekend described it as a "massacre", with many women and children among the dead.
The Israeli army said it had given civilians two days warning to leave the area. Meanwhile, Israel's UN ambassador Ron Prosor denied claims by Hamas that an Israeli soldier had been abducted.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas described the situation in Gaza as "intolerable" and the Israeli attacks a "crime against humanity".
The Israeli government has claimed Hamas was hiding behind the civilian population. Spokesman Naftali Bennet said "What Hamas is doing is effectively self genocide. They're, in a cowardly and cynical fashion, placing their women and children as shields, killing them, then coming to (media) outlets and saying 'Israel is killing us'" he said.
