A German astronaut managed to capture the Gaza war zone from space while aboard the International Space Station. He called it his saddest photo yet.

Alexander Gerst, a German flight engineer, geophysicist and volcanologist, spread the news with a short tweet on Wednesday, as the ISS was on a flyby over Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory. The image went viral.

One can clearly see the spots in which the yellowish glow of exploding targets is more prominent than elsewhere.

From the International Space Station we can actually see explosions and rockets flying over Gaza and Israel, He wrote on his Facebook fan page late last night, with a German translation underneath.

The ESA astronaut is currently on the 57th day of his mission, together with Russian commander Maksim Surayev and American engineer Reid Wiseman.

Israel is currently in the midst of an all-out assault on Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip an operation that has recently gone into a new phase, as escalating hostilities and ground warfare bring the death toll to 700.

There are casualties on both sides, but the overwhelming majority is Palestinian, 80 percent of them civilians, according to a recent UN report.

Miss wrote

Astronaut Photographs Gaza Offensive from Space.

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A German astronaut managed to capture the Gaza war zone from space while aboard the International Space Station. He called it his saddest photo yet.

Alexander Gerst, a German flight engineer, geophysicist and volcanologist, spread the news with a short tweet on Wednesday, as the ISS was on a flyby over Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory. The image went viral.

[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]

Israel has agreed to a 12-hour pause in Gaza hostilities starting at 7 a.m. Israeli time (0400 GMT) on Saturday, a US official told Reuters.

The move by Israel to enact a pause over the weekend is intended as a goodwill gesture signal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government to Kerry to indicate his willingness to do that as a good face down payment and to move forward, said the Secretary of State.

"We are working toward a brief seven days of peace. Seven days of a humanitarian ceasefire in honor of Eid in order to be able to bring people together to try to work to create a more durable, sustainable ceasefire for the long (term)," Kerry said to reporters in Cairo, which has become the host to negotiations between Hamas and Israels government.

Kerry indicated that a draft truce proposal had not yet been produced. "We still have some terminology ... to work through, but we are confident that we have a fundamental framework that can and will ultimately work," Kerry said.

Fridays announcement was made during a news conference by Kerry, with Egypts Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon standing alongside him.

As the Israeli operation Protective Edge has so far claimed over 1,000 dead, users have been flooding the web with dozens of photos of Jews and Arabs together showcasing peace and love, under the hashtag #JewsAndArabsRefuseToBeEnemies.

The campaign was launched by Abraham Gutman (Jewish) and Dania Darwish (Arab), both students at Hunter College in New York, immediately after the start of Operation Protective Edge in Gaza - and this week it gained momentum.

CNN reported that the United States military will be honoring a request from Israel for assistance in the midst of their weeks-long campaign against militants from Hamas residing in Gaza City.

According to the network, Pentagon officials have confirmed that the US will honor a request from Israel for several types of ammunition, including 120mm mortar rounds and 40mm ammunition for grenade launchers. The exchange will not be an emergency sale, the unnamed officials said, and is coming from a stockpile of weapons maintained by the US in Israel worth more than $1 billion.

Yoke wrote I'm glad the US is now getting involved and at least trying to give Israel a fighting chance!