A relative is comforted by mourners as they gather around the bodies of seven members of the Kelani family, killed overnight by an Israeli strike in Gaza City, during their funeral in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Tuesday. Ibrahim Kelani, 53, his wife Taghreed and their five children, were killed in the strike.

JERUSALEM — An Israeli soldier is missing following a deadly battle in the Gaza Strip, a defense official said today, as Israeli airstrikes pummeled a wide range of targets along the coastal strip and diplomatic efforts intensified to end more than two weeks of fighting that has killed more than 600 Palestinians and 29 Israelis.

It was not immediately known if the missing soldier was alive or dead, the Israeli defense official said. The disappearance raised the possibility that he had been captured by Hamas — a nightmare scenario for Israel. In the past, Israel has paid a heavy price in lopsided prisoner swaps to retrieve captured soldiers or remains held by its enemies.

Military officials said the soldier, identified as Sgt. Oron Shaul, was among seven soldiers in a vehicle that was hit by an anti-tank missile in a battle in Gaza over the weekend. The other six have been confirmed as dead, but no remains have been identified as Shaul, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the incident with media.

Hamas’ claimed earlier this week that it had captured an Israeli soldier. Israel’s U.N. ambassador initially denied the claim but the military neither confirmed nor denied it.

A representative of Shaul’s family, Racheli Gazit, said that “so long as the verification has not been completed ... as far as the family is concerned Oron is not a fallen soldier.”

In Cairo, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Egyptian officials today in the highest-level push yet to end the deadly conflict. The U.N. has said that the majority of the Palestinians killed were civilians, among them dozens of children.

Israel launched its campaign July 8 ostensibly to stop Hamas rocket fire into Israel and destroy tunnels the military says Hamas has constructed from Gaza into Israel for attacks against Israelis. The military says Hamas has launched 2,000 rockets since the war began.

Overnight, Israel bombed more than 150 targets, including five mosques, a sports complex and the home of the late Hamas military chief, a Gaza police official said, killing 46 people. Officials also said that among the dead since Monday were six members of a family who had German nationality.

The airstrikes set off huge explosions that turned the night sky over Gaza City orange early today. The sound of the blasts mixed with the thud of shelling, often just seconds apart, and the pre-dawn call to prayer from mosque loudspeakers.

Eleven people were killed when six upper floors of a Gaza high-rise collapsed onto the two lower stories, buckling them into rubble.

Among the dead were Ibrahim Kelani, 53, his wife Taghreed and their five children, said Ibrahim’s brother, Saleh Kelani, 49. He said that his brother and his brother’s children, ranging in age from four to 12, had German citizenship, while his wife did not.

In Israel, thousands attended the funeral on Monday night of Nissim Sean Carmeli, 21, an Israeli-American soldier from Texas who was killed in the fighting.

“He’s a hero to us and he’s a hero to everyone,” said Seth Greenberg, a friend who tattooed Carmeli’s initials on his neck in the form of a Star of David.