Sunday shaped up to be the worst day of the nearly two-week Gaza Conflict:  At least 87 Palestinians were killed by Israeli attacks, including several women and children.  And Hamas managed to kill 13 Israeli soldiers while claiming that it has taken one prisoner.

“Qassam Brigades captured a Zionist soldier,” said Abu Ubaida, spokesman of the Hamas militant wing Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades.  He said the captured Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldier’s name is Shaul Aron, and read Aron’s ID number.  If confirmed, Aron would be the first Israeli soldier held captive in Gaza since 2011, when Israel traded about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners to free Gilad Shalit.

The capture apparently happened a short distance from the Gaza neighborhood where 13 IDF forces died earlier.  Seven Israelis were in an armored personnel carrier hit by anti-tank fire, while the rest were killed setting up positions inside houses they had taken over.  The one-day death toll was the highest for the Israeli military's since a 2006 war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.

But it’s also the most Palestinians killed in a day since fighting began on 8 July.  Reports of casualties range from 87 to 100 lives lost.  Civilians wandered through rubble-strewn streets, looking for loved ones and frequently discovering the worst.  One hospital alone received 62 Palestinian fatalities, including 17 children, 14 women, and four elderly.  It raises the Palestinian death toll to at least 434 since 8 July, the vast majority of them civilians.