Israeli ground forces have attacked the Gaza Strip after tensions exploded in recent days, the military has confirmed.
Roars of explosions were heard across northern and eastern parts of Gaza.
Witnesses said many families living in areas near the border had fled their homes with some seeking shelter at UN-run schools.
In a post on social media late on Thursday the Israel Defense Forces said: “IDF air and ground troops are currently attacking in the Gaza Strip.”
Moments later Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that the military operation would go on ‘as long as necessary.’
He said: “I said that we would charge a very heavy price from Hamas. We do this and we will continue to do so with great intensity.
“The last word was not said and this operation will continue as long as necessary.”
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
With hostilities entering their fifth day, with no sign of halting, the Israeli military said in its statement shortly after midnight that air and ground forces were attacking the Hamas-run enclave.
Rocket barrages from Gaza then followed.
Although the statement gave no further details, Israeli military affairs correspondents who are briefed regularly by the armed forces said it was not a ground invasion, and that troops were firing artillery from Israel’s side of the border.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Residents of northern Gaza, near the Israeli frontier, said they had seen no sign of Israeli ground forces inside the enclave but reported heavy artillery fire and dozens of air strikes.
It comes after days of hostilities that have seen deadly barrages fired and left dozens of people dead.
At least 109 people were killed in Gaza, including 29 children, over the previous four days, Palestinian medical officials said.
On Thursday alone, 52 Palestinians were killed in the enclave, the highest single-day figure since Monday.
Seven people were killed in Israel: a soldier patrolling the Gaza border, five Israeli civilians, including two children, and an Indian worker, Israeli authorities said.
(Image: ATEF SAFADI/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
(Image: Getty Images)
Israeli commanders were on Thursday said to be drawing up plans for a ground war against Gaza’s militants, despite warnings they could drag the region to “the depths of hell”.
Israeli sources said the government was determined to avoid a ground war, mindful of the 2014 Gaza War that killed more than 2,310 Palestinians and 72 Israelis.
One source said: “Plans are being drawn up for a ground offensive, even though the Israeli Defence Force has inflicted serious damage on the Hamas military leadership.
“There is only so much Israeli intelligence can do in terms of picking out Hamas buildings to hit.
“A ground offensive… unthinkable just days ago, remains nevertheless on the table.”
(Image: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Worried that the region’s worst hostilities in years could spiral out of control, the US was sending in an envoy, Hady Amr.
Truce efforts by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations had yet to deliver a sign of progress.
U.S. President Joe Biden called on Thursday for a de-escalation of the violence, saying he wanted to see a significant reduction in rocket attacks.
Militants fired rocket salvoes at Tel Aviv and surrounding towns on Thursday, with the Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepting many of them.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Communities near the Gaza border and the southern desert city of Beersheba were also targeted.
Five Israelis were wounded by a rocket that hit a building near Tel Aviv on Thursday.
Netanyahu said Israel has struck a total of close to 1,000 militant targets in the territory.
Earlier, Brigadier-General Hidai Zilberman, the Israeli military’s chief spokesman, said attacks on militants’ rocket production and launching sites were “disrupting Hamas’ activities”, but still not to the point of stopping the barrages.
He said between 80 and 90 militants had been killed in Israeli attacks.
He added that Israel was “building up forces on the Gaza border”, a deployment that raised speculation about a possible ground invasion, a move that would recall similar incursions during Israel-Gaza wars in 2014 and in 2009.