Two oil fields have been taken over by Kurdistan’s peshmerga in the north of Iraq.

The facilities, at the Bai Hassan and Kirkuk oil fields, have come under full control of Kurdish forces, a day after Kurdish MPs withdrew from Iraq’s government.

Israel said Friday that it would not bow down to international pressure to end air strikes on Gaza, whilst the US offered to help negotiate a ceasefire with Hamas, reports Reuters.

“No international pressure will prevent us from acting with all power,” he told reports Tel Aviv.

The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Friday, urged the United Nations Security Council to demand an immediate truce.

The UN Human Rights Chief, Navi Pillay, also expressed concern over the legitimacy of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.

The European Union Friday, imposed sanctions on two South Sudanese military leaders for breaking ceasefire agreement, reports the Reuters.

The EU announced travel bans on South Sudanese rebel leader Peter Gadet, and Military commander of the government army, Santino Deng. 

The sanctions were placed due to claims that Gadet had violated the January ceasefire whilst citing human rights abuses during an attack by his militia group in April.

Kurdish leaders vowed to boycott the Iraq cabinet on Thursday, demanding an apology from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, for his remarks accusing Kurdistan of harbouring ISIS fighters.

Mr Maliki made those comments whilst visiting the Kurdistan's capital Irbil on Wednesday.

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki moon, Thursday, warned the United Nations Security Council of a serious escalation of casualties in the Israel and Gaza could only be avoided if parties worked towards a two state solution.

“My paramount concern is the safety and well-being of all civilians, no matter where they are. It pains me – and it should pain us all – to be reliving circumstances that are all too reminiscent of the two most recent wars in Gaza,” said Ban Ki-moon.

Over 38 people, including at least 8 children have now been killed in the Gaza strip after continuing air and sea attacks by the Israeli Defence Force.

Officials in Gaza said that six children were killed in an attack targeting Hamas activist Odeh Ahmad Mohammad Kaware, with several of his children said to have died in the assault, reported The Guardian.

The Israeli military has conducted over 440 air and naval strikes since Monday.

"Four Palestinians were killed in air strikes, including two brothers who are 12 and 13 years old in Shejaiya, while a four-year-old boy and a woman were killed in a raid on Zeitun," emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told Agence France-Presse.

The Israeli army said that the killing of 8 Palestinian civilians on Tuesday was a mistake, whilst adding that civilians protecting Hamas buildings would not be spared, reports an Israeli daily, Harretz.

An Israeli Defence Force investigation, Wednesday, found that despite prior warnings, a senior Hamas operatives family members returned to the targeted house too soon.

“There was nothing to be done, the munition was in the air and could not be diverted,” said a senior air force officer.

China called on Monday for an inclusive government in Iraq as a prompt political solution to ongoing violence.

Expressing concern about the violence and the rise of ISIS, China's Middle East envoy, Wu Sike, told Iraqi Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki that "the stability of Iraq is key to the peace and stability of the entire Middle East, as well as that of the world", Reuters reported.