Three top Hamas commanders killed in Israeli strike

Palestinians carry the body of three of Hamas' most senior leaders during their funeral in the southern Gaza strip.

Israel killed the men- who Hamas named as Mohammed Abu Shammala, Raed al-Attar and Mohammed Barhoum- during a failed attempt on the life of its top commander.

Fighting still continued in Gaza after attempts to bring about a lasting ceasefire failed again on Tuesday.

At least four members of the same family were killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City today, the Associated Press reported.

Hamas has "admitted" the group kidnapped and murdered three Israeli teenagers whose deaths sparked the current Gaza conflict.

Saleh al-Arouri, a Hamas official from the West Bank who lives in exile in Turkey, appeared to confirm the Islamist group were behind the abduction at a press conference in Istanbul.

He told reporters: "There was much speculation about this operation, some said it was a conspiracy.

"The popular will was exercised throughout our occupied land, and culminated in the heroic operation by the Qassam Brigades in imprisoning the three settlers in Hebron," he said, referring to Hamas' armed wing.

Until now Hamas officials have refused to confirm or deny any involvement in the killings of Gilad Shaar and Naftali Fraenkel, both 16, and 19-year-old Eyal Yifrach in June.

Palestinian boy Mohammed Abu Khudair, 16, is said to have been murdered "in revenge."

Read more: Murdered Palestinian boy was 'burned alive'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said "fighting could go on for a long while" as the conflict in Gaza resumed.

He told reporters Israel would not back down saying: "This will be a continuous campaign."

Ceasefire talks in Egypt broke down on Tuesday. Since then Israel claim to have killed three of the most senior Hamas leaders.

Three senior Hamas military commanders have been killed in Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip, the Islamist militant group said.

Hamas named the men as Mohammed Abu Shammala, Raed al-Attar and Mohammed Barhoum and said they were killed in a bombing of a house in the southern town of Rafah.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on what would be the killing of the most senior Hamas men since Israel launched its offensive in the Palestinian enclave on July 8.

At least six people have been killed when an Israeli airstrike hit a densely populated neighbourhood in Gaza, Palestinian police said.

According to the Associated Press, the strike destroyed a four-storey structure in the southern town of Rafah and that rescue workers were still searching for people trapped in the rubble.

The strike was one of 20 the Israeli military says were carried out following the breakdown of Egyptian-mediated talks aimed at producing a long-term truce after more than a month of fighting that has killed more than 2,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians. Israel lost 67 people, all but three of them soldiers.

Israeli military said that they struck 20 targets in Gaza overnight in response to rocket fire from Hamas, as a six-day truce collapsed into heavy fighting.

The Israeli military reported that since the collapse of a ceasefire with the Palestinians, over 213 rockets had been fired at Israel.

Riyad Mansour, Palestinian Ambassador to the UN, has said the Palestinians were "willing and ready to resume the efforts in Cairo"adding that Israel had "never abided by the ceasefire", after a six-day truce broke down into heavy fighting.

The UN Security Council expressed "grave concern" at the resumption of hostilities in Gaza between Israel and Palestinians and called upon the parties to resume negotiations to urgently reach a "sustainable and lasting ceasefire."

The 15-member Security Council also "called upon the parties to prevent the situation from escalating and to reach an immediate humanitarian ceasefire," said British UN Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, president of the council for August.

The Israeli military has targetted a person who it claims was responsible for rocket barrages in the south of the country.

They did not name the target or specify whether the mission was successful.