11 July 2014 Last updated at 09:28
In pictures: Gaza conflict escalates
More than 90 people have been killed in Israeli air raids on Gaza since
its current offensive began on Tuesday, Palestinian officials say.
The Palestinian health ministry said many had died in attacks on a house and a cafe in Khan Younis in the south.
Militants in Gaza have continued firing rockets into Israel, with sirens sounding across the country.
Israeli bomb-disposal experts pick up the remains of a rocket fired by
Palestinian militants, from outside a house in the southern Israeli city
of Netivot.
Israel says militants have fired around 500 rockets from Gaza since it
launched Operation Protective Edge. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
warned the situation was "on a knife-edge".
Israel says its targets have been militant fighters and facilities
including rocket launchers, weapons stores, tunnels and command centres.
But the Palestinian health ministry says many of those who have died
were women and children.
The Palestinian health ministry said that some 600 people had been injured overall.
Militant rocket fire from Gaza hit a petrol station in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod on Friday, injuring three people.
Israel says its Iron Dome defence system has intercepted most of the
rockets fired by Palestinian militants, though some have still got
through, such as here in Netivot, southern Israel.
26 Images Of Gaza In Ruins As Israeli Military 'Makes Hamas Pay' For Rocket Strikes (LIVE UPDATES)
The Huffington Post UK
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By Paul Vale
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Posted: 10/07/14 BST | Updated: 10/07/14 BST
The Israeli military's air assault on Gaza continued on Thursday, with hundreds of "Hamas targets" being hit. At least 16 Palestinians are reported to have been killed in the latest wave of attacks, with Israel’s "Iron Dome" missile defence system intercepting militant rockets fired from within Gaza at targets across Israel.
According to IDF spokesman Peter Lerner, 230 "Hamas targets" were
struck overnight, amounting to 750 strikes in three days, a bombardment
that has killed at least 80 Palestinians in total. The Israeli offensive
boasts strikes from jet fighters and drones, aimed, according to the
IDF, at rocket factories and launchers, arms stores and the buildings of
Hamas officials. On Wednesday evening, eight people were killed when an
Israeli strike hit a beach café in Gaza where patrons were gathered to
watch the World Cup semi-final between the Netherlands and Argentina.
Israeli ground troops remain amassed on the Gaza border in
preparation for a ground invasion of Palestine. The Israeli government
has warned Hamas that an end to the air assault will only come if the
rocket attacks into Israel cease, with militants firing hundreds of
projectiles into the Israeli heartland over the past week.
Reported by AP,
Lerner said: "The ground option needs to be the last option and only if
it is absolutely necessary. It is a carefully designed plan of action."
Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon added: "The military's successes
so far have been very significant. We will continue until they
understand that this escalation is not beneficial to them and that we
will not tolerate rocket fire toward our towns and citizens." According
to the Israeli government, the purpose of the air assault is to
significantly degrade the Gazans capacity and willingness to fire
rockets into Israeli territory.
On Wednesday, Lerner said that Hamas "is going to pay for its aggression...
It is literally holding us hostage with its rockets." He added that the
offensive was designed to take a "substantial toll" of Hamas and that
"the country is not willing for this situation to continue".
Later that day, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said: "I have
been in contact with the regional and international parties in the last
few days, particularly Hamas leaders in Gaza, and everyone I've talked
to expressed his willingness to restore the truce and stop the
escalation," adding that the Israeli actions against Gaza was "orchestrated and brutal aggression".
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Palestinians inspect the rubble of a house after it was hit by an Israeli missile strike in Gaza City, Thursday, July 10, 2014. -
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Israel pressed on with a punishing aerial offensive in Gaza for a third day on Thursday, killing eight members of a family including five children in a predawn strike, Palestinian officials said. -
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Palestinians inspect the rubble of a house after it was hit by an Israeli missile strike in Gaza City, Thursday, July 10, 2014. -
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Relatives bury four year-old Abdallah Abu Ghazal during his funeral in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, Thursday, July 10, 2014. -
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Palestinians inspect a house belonging to a senior Hamas official that was damaged in a strike in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, Thursday, July 10, 2014. -
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Palestinians inspect a house belonging to a senior Hamas official that was damaged in a strike in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, Thursday, July 10, 2014. -
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Palestinians gather around a car wreckage after an airstrike in Jabalya refugee camp in the north of the Gaza Strip, Thursday, July 10, 2014. -
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Palestinians gather around a car wreckage after an airstrike in Jabalya refugee camp in the north of the Gaza Strip, Thursday, July 10, 2014. -
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A Palestinian inspects a house belonging to a senior Hamas official that was damaged in a strike in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, Thursday, July 10, 2014. -
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Smoke rises following an Israeli strike on Gaza, seen from the Israel-Gaza Border, Thursday, July 10, 2014. -
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Smoke rise following an Israeli strike on Gaza, seen from the Israel Gaza border on Thursday, July 10, 2014. -
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Palestinians search in the rubble of a destroyed house where eight members of the Al Haj family were killed in a strike early morning in Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip on Thursday, July 10, 2014. -
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Palestinians search in the rubble of a destroyed house where eight members of the Al Haj family were killed in a strike early morning in Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip on Thursday, July 10, 2014. -
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Palestinians search in the rubble of a destroyed house where eight members of the Al Haj family were killed in a strike early morning in Khan Younis refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip on Thursday, July 10, 2014. -
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Smoke rises after a strike in Gaza City on Thursday, July 10, 2014. -
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Palestinians gather around a car wreckage after an airstrike in Jabalya refugee camp in the north of the Gaza Strip, Thursday, July 10, 2014. -
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Palestinians inspect a house belonging to a senior Hamas official damaged in a strike in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, July 10, 2014. -
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Palestinians inspect the rubble of a house after it was hit by an Israeli missile strike in Gaza City, Thursday, July 10, 2014. -
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Palestinians look at aftermath of an Israeli missile strike in Gaza City, Thursday, July 10, 2014. -
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Palestinians inspect the rubble of a house after it was hit by an Israeli missile strike in Gaza City, Thursday, July 10, 2014. -
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Palestinians inspect the rubble of a house after it was hit by an Israeli missile strike in Gaza City, Thursday, July 10, 2014. -
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A Palestinian inspects the rubble of a house after it was hit by an Israeli missile strike in Gaza City, Thursday, July 10, 2014. -
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Israeli soldiers drive a tank to a position near Israel Gaza Border, Thursday, July 10, 2014. -
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An Israeli tank drives to a position near the Israel Gaza border, Thursday, July 10, 2014. -
Getty Images
A picture taken from the southern Israeli Gaza border shows smoke billowing from buildings following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, on July 10, 2014. -
Getty Images
A picture taken from the southern Israeli Gaza border shows smoke billowing from buildings following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, on July 10, 2014.More:-
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes on Gaza, seen from Israel-Gaza Border, Thursday, July 10, 2014. Israel dramatically escalated its aerial assault in Gaza Thursday hitting hundreds of Hamas targets, as Palestinians reported more than a dozen of people killed in strikes that hit a home and a beachside cafe and Israel's missile defense system once again intercepted rockets fired by militants at the country's heartland. -
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View of central Israel seen from Tel Aviv as an Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept a rocket from the Gaza Strip, Israel, Thursday, July 10, 2014. Israel dramatically escalated its aerial assault in Gaza Thursday hitting hundreds of Hamas targets, as Palestinians reported more than a dozen of people killed in strikes that hit a home and a beachside cafe and Israel's missile defense system once again intercepted rockets fired by militants at the country's heartland.
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