CAIRO: Arab League chief Nabil Al-Arabi has accused Israel of “blocking” all attempts to end the Gaza conflict, a day after the collapse of a cease-fire in the Palestinian territory.

“Israel is blocking any kind of agreement leading to calm” in the Gaza Strip, said Al-Arabi.

“The Arab League wants to reach a permanent truce as soon as possible,” he said before flying off to Geneva for a meeting with the International Committee of the Red Cross to demand protection of Palestinian civilians.

His remarks came as the armed wing of Hamas warned foreign airlines against flying into Tel Aviv, threatening to step up its conflict with Israel and declaring truce talks in Cairo over.

“There will be no return to talks after today and any move in this direction will never achieve any result,” Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida said in a televised speech.

The wife and seven-month-old son of the Qassam Brigades’ commander Mohammed Deif were killed in an Israeli air strike on a building in Gaza City, but Hamas said Deif was still alive.

“The Zionist enemy failed to assassinate the general commander,” said the spokesman.

So far, 20 Gazans have been killed since militants launched a barrage of rockets on southern Israel on Tuesday and F16 fighter jets carried out retaliatory air strikes, Palestinian medics say.

The bloodshed pushed to 2,038 the number of Gazans killed in six weeks of violence.