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Israel has warned that it is preparing troops for a possible ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, amid an escalation of violence following the deaths of three Israeli teenagers and one Palestinian.
Launching what it described as a potentially long-term offensive against Hamas dubbed “Operation Protective Edge”, the Israeli military has called up some 1,500 reservists and said an incursion of soldiers on the group was “not off the table”.
Nearly 300 rockets and mortars have been fired at Israel in recent weeks, including a barrage of close to 100 projectiles on Monday alone, the military said, marking a huge surge after years of relative quiet.
And as rocket fire resumed with more than 15 strikes on southern Israel this morning, army spokesman Lt Col Peter Lerner said an open-ended campaign had been launched to “retrieve stability in the region”.
Around 100 sites in Gaza have been struck today. At least 15 Palestinians, including three children, were killed in the attacks from air and sea, Palestinian medical officials said.
Israel said it had offered a ceasefire on the condition that the rocket barrage was stopped.
“They chose the direction of escalation,” Lerner said. “So the mission will go on as long as we feel it is necessary to carry it out. We don't expect it to be a short mission on our behalf.”
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on GazaShow all 105 1 /105In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Israeli border with Gaza Israeli soldiers rest next to artillery shells from an artillery unit near the Israeli border with Gaza
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border Palestinian mourners pray in a mosque during the funeral for those killed in a three-storey house belonging to the Abu Jamaa family the day before, in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border Palestinian mourners pray over five bodies, all from the Halaq family, during their funeral in the Jabalia refugee camp, in the Gaza Strip
MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty Images
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border The aunt of Palestinian boy Mohammed Ayad, who medics said was killed during heavy Israeli shelling, mourns as she looks at his body during his funeral in Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border Two Palestinian men flee their homes during a temporary ceasefire in the heavily-hit Shuja’iya neighbourhood in Gaza City
EPA
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border Palestinian women react next to the rubble of their relatives' house, which police said was destroyed in an Israeli air strike, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border Palestinians gather as a bulldozer searches for victims amongst the rubble of a house, which police said was destroyed in an Israeli air strike, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border Palestinians paramedics lift the body of a man from the Al Shejaeiya neighbourhood, during a brief period of ceasefire requested by local rescue forces to retrieve dead and wounded from the Shuja'iyya neighbourhood in east Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border An Israeli soldier gestures on a Merkava tank, as part of the Israeli army deployment near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border Palestinian Beisan Dhahir (7) sleeps at Shifa hospital in Gaza City. Beisan's home was shelled and collapsed by Israel's military operation in Shijaiyah in the Gaza Strip. She survived the ordeal with her aunt and uncle. Beisan's mother, father, brother, sister and baby sister all died in the attack
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border A picture taken from Israel at the southern border with the Gaza strip shows smoke billowing from behind a hill following an Israeli air strike on Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Palestinians clashes with Israeli Palestinians clashes with Israeli troops following the protest against the Israeli operations in Gaza at the al-Jalazone Camp in Ramallah, West Bank
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border An Israeli soldier sleeps on a tank near the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip. Israeli strikes killed at least 20 people in Gaza on Saturday 19 July, taking the death toll from a 12-day bombardment to 324
Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Tensions Remain High At Israeli Gaza Border Sderot, Israel: Soldiers are seen advancing towards the Israeli-Gaza border during an operation near Sderot, Israel. As operation 'Protective Edge' enters its 12th day, over 300 Gazans have been killed along with three Israeli soldiers
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In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Tensions Remain High At Israeli-Gaza Border Palestinians walk past a building that was destroyed nearby their house following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City. Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip killed 11 people early on 19 July, medics said, on day 12 of a major operation against the Palestinian territory
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In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinian men help a local journalist who got injured during an Israeli airstrike on an office building hosting several media outlets in Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinians help an injured colleague to leave a building hit by an Israeli air strike on Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinians leave their neighborhood to a safer location after Israel's army stared its ground offensive in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Israeli Gaza border Israeli soldiers seen along the border with Gaza before the attack
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In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip An Israeli missile strikes in Gaza City
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In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinians run for shelter as they hear bombing in the distance while they flee their homes in the Shajaiyeh neighborhood of Gaza City, after Israel had airdropped leaflets warning people to leave the area
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Relatives of 4 Palestinian children killed in Israeli airstrike while they were playing on the beach, mourn in Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A Palestinian man cries as he holds the dead body of his young brother shortly after he got killed by an Israeli naval bombardment in the port of Gaza City in the morgue of the Shifa hospital in Gaza
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Young relatives of four boys, all from the Bakr family, killed during Israeli shelling, cry during their funeral in Gaza City
AFP PHOTO / MOHAMMED ABEDMOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinian employees of Gaza City's al-Deira hotel carry a wounded boy following an Israeli military strike nearby on the beach
THOMAS COEX/AFP/Getty Images
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A Palestinian man reads a leaflet dropped by Israeli Defense Forces over the Shuja'iyya neighbourhood in east Gaza. The paper says residents of the area are supposed to leave the area immediately and seek shelter in the center of Gaza City before the Israeli airforce will commence airstrikes. According to Israeli sources 100,000 people were notified to flee, only a few did
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinian children run to collect leaflets dropped by Israeli Defense Forces over the Shuja'iyya neighbourhood in east Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinians salvage what they can of their belongings from the rubble of their destroyed house following an early morning Israeli missile strike in Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A Palestinian man looks at a house destroyed by Israeli Defense Forces during an overnight air strike in Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A Palestinian man stands amidst the debris of the house of senior Hamas official Mahmud al-Zahar which was destroyed by Israeli Defense Forces in an air strike in Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Israeli Gaza border Palestinians search a destroyed house following an Israeli missile strike in Rafah
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Israeli Gaza border A man walks near the Israeli Gaza border
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Smoke rises from a Palestinian house during an attack by Israeli missiles in Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip. Israel bombed 40 more targets in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian militants launched at least 20 rockets across the border, despite a call by UN Secretary-General for a truce. The death toll rose to over 170 on the seventh day of the Israeli offensive, with more than 1,200 wounded, a Gaza Health Ministry spokesman said
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Israeli Gaza border A photo taken from the southern Israeli Gaza border shows Israeli army flares falling into the Palestinian enclave. Israel's security cabinet was to meet early on July 15 to discuss Egyptian proposals for a truce in Gaza, a senior official said, as an aerial campaign against Hamas entered its eighth day
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A Palestinian elderly walks past a destroyed house in the north of Beit Lahiya town in the northern Gaza Strip
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A Palestinian baby Abdullah Abu Halib, wounded during an Israeli airstrike, is treated at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip The funeral ceremony of three members of El-Muammer family, killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, is held in Khan Yunis
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Relatives carry the body of 3-year-old Palestinian boy Moayad al-Araj, who hospital officials said were killed in an Israeli air strike, during his funeral in Khan Younis
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinian relatives mourn during the funeral of four members of the Moamer family, including a 26-year-old militant of the Hamas movement, during their funeral in southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A young Palestinian boy walks over debris from a house that was destroyed in an airstrike in Deir Al Balah
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinian boys inspect the damage in a mosque that was destroyed overnight by an Israeli airstrike in Deir Al Balah
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinian firefighters extinguish a fire that broke out after an Israeli air strike hit a car in Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinians gather around a firing car following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A Palestinian man walks next to a destroyed house following Israeli missile strike in Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinians gather around the remains of a house, which police said was destroyed in an Israeli air strike in Rafah
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinians carry the body of three-year-old Mohammed Mnassrah who was killed along with his parents and brother in an airstrike, during his funeral in Al Maghazi refugee camp in the eastern Gaza Strip
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Relatives and friends of al-Hajj family mourn as they gather in a mosque to pray over the bodies of the eight family members during their funeral in Khan Yunis
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Israel A smoke and fire billowing from an Israeli gas station after it was hit by a rocket fired from the Palestinian Gaza Strip
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A Palestinian firefighter hoses a boat hit in an missile strike at the port in Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A Palestinian firefighter hoses a boat damaged by an missile strike at the port in Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip The destroyed house of the Palestinian Abu Lealla family following an Israeli airstrike north of Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinians inspect the rubble of a house after it was hit by an Israeli missile strike in Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Israel Israeli fire-fighters extinguish a fire that broke out after a rocket hit a petrol station in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Israel Israeli fire fighters extinguish vehicles destroyed by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip that hit a gas station in the city of Ashdod
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Israel Israeli fire fighters extinguish vehicles destroyed by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip in the city of Ashdod
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Israel Israeli firefighters try to extinguish the fire from several cars that were damaged by a missile fired from the Gaza Strip that hit a gas station in the southern city of Ashdod
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Israel Firefighters try to douse a fire from a rocket that hit a Petrol station in Ashdod
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A ball of fire is seen following an air strike on Rafah in the southern of Gaza strip
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinian firefighters extinguish fire from a building following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A Palestinian man walks on the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinians carry bodies of seven people killed in a strike during their funeral in Khan Younis refugee camp
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Israel launched the military operation 'Protective Edge', which came in response to a renewed wave of rockets out of the Gaza Strip, for some of which Palestinian group Hamas has claimed responsibility. There have been more than 120 Israeli airstrikes in the coastal enclave, according to Palestinian sources, while hundreds of rockets and mortar shells have landed in southern Israel. Israeli military spokesman Peter Lerner said the offensive, named Protective Edge, could grow into a 'ground mission if required'
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Flames engulf a building hit by an Israeli air strike
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinians inspect damages following an Israeli air strike
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinian rescuers check a car hit by an Israeli air strike killing the driver in Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A Palestinian woman runs carrying a girl following what police said was an Israeli air strike on a house in Gaza city
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinians sitting on a street react after a deadly Israeli air strike that targeted their house in the town of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinian relatives mourn during the funeral of members of Hamad family in the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A Palestinian man carries his wounded daughter into the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City following an Israeli air strike
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinians stand on the edge of a crater as others look for people under the rubble of a house that was destroyed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A Palestinian removes rubble near a damaged building belonging to a senior Hamas official following an Israeli missile strike in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinians collect their belongings from the rubble of their house which police said was destroyed in an Israeli air strike in Rafah
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Beit Hanoun, a city on the northeast edge of the Gaza Strip, hit by Israeli airstrike, West Bank
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A Palestinian man removes blooded cushions from an outdoors sitting area following an Israeli air strike in Beit Hanun
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Relatives and friends of the al-Kaware family carry one of the 7 members of the family to the mosque during their funeral in Khan Yunis
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A Palestinian boy who was injured in an Israeli airstrike, sits next to his mother after receiving treatment at a hospital in Khan Younis
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A picture taken from the southern Israeli border with the Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing after an Israeli air strike in the Palestinian coastal enclave
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Wounded Palestinians are taken to hospitals after Israel airstrikes targeted different points of Gaza city
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A Palestinian boy cries as he receives treatment at a hospital after he was injured in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Two Palestinian girls inspect the ruble of a destroyed house following an Israeli airstrike in Rafah refugee camp
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A Palestinian woman makes her way through debris as people inspect the remains of a house belonging to a member of the Islamist Hamas movement following an Israeli air strike in the Gaza strip town of Khan Yunis
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A Palestinian man searches for belongings under the rubble of a house which police said was destroyed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinian men carry a pumpkin and watermelon as they walk across the rubble
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinians stand atop the rubble of a house which police said was destroyed in an Israeli air strike
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Smoke rises after an attack of Israeli aircraft in the South of Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip The father of killed Hamas militant Rashad Yassin (28) arrives at the morgue of the al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza strip
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Smoke and flames are seen following what police said was an Israeli air strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Fire fighters extinguish a vehicle targeted in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Wounded people are taken to the hospital in Gaza city
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A smoke rises after an Israeli air strike in the Palestinian coastal enclave
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A Palestinian girls in the rubble of the destroyed home of the Al Abadlla family following an Israeli airstrike in Khanyounis, southern Gaza Strip
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinians inspect the rubble of a house after it was hit by an Israeli missile strike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinians inspect destroyed area as smoke rises from the ruins in Khan Yunis after the Israeli airstrikes aiming Gaza
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Israel The Iron Dome air-defense system fires to intercept a rocket over the city of Ashdod. Due to recent escalation in the region, the Israeli army started new deployments at the border with the Gaza Strip
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Israel An Israeli soldier performs a morning prayer in an army deployment area near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A woman stands inside her destroyed house in Khan Yunis
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinians inspect destroyed area in Khan Yunis after the Israeli airstrikes aiming Gaza
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinian men carry an injured person into Gaza City's al-Shifa hospital following an Israeli air strike
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Smoke rises following what witnesses said was an Israeli air strike in Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinians collect their belongings from damaged houses after an Israeli missile strike hit Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip The Israeli air force launched dozens of raids on the Gaza Strip after massive rocket fire from the enclave pounded southern Israel, leaving many people injured
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A Palestinian girl stands in a destroyed building following an Israeli military strike in Gaza City
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip A destroyed building in seen following an Israeli military strike in in Khan Yunis, in the soutehrn Gaza Strip
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Palestinians march during funeral of Palestinian Marwan Sleem in the central Gaza Strip
In pictures: Israel launches further air strikes on Gaza Southern Gaza Strip Israeli soldiers ride atop a tank outside the southern Gaza Strip. Israel launched a series of air strikes on Gaza to quell Hamas rocket fire, and the Islamist group's armed wing said seven of its gunmen were killed, making it the deadliest day for Hamas since a 2012 cross-border war with the Jewish state
Israel's defense minister announced a special state of emergency in the region today as summer camps and schools were shut down and residents encouraged to stay close to their homes.
It said five projectiles from Gaza were intercepted by the country's sophisticated Iron Dome missile defense system. A German cruise operator docking in the Ashdod port said debris fell onto one of its ships late Monday as it was departing, though no one was harmed.
Among the sites the army said it targetted early today were four houses belonging to militants, three militant compounds, 18 concealed rocket launchers, and other militant infrastructure sites. Most were targeted in air strikes, and three were attacked from the sea.
Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kedra said at least nine Palestinian civilians were brought to a Gaza hospital with light to moderate injuries from the air strikes, including several who suffered from shock. He said some of the injured Palestinians were treated and released.
Hamas has amassed about 10,000 rockets, including longer-range rockets that can reach “up to Tel Aviv and beyond,” Lerner said, adding that the army was preparing for the possibility that Hamas would launch rockets toward Israel's heartland and its commercial and cultural hub.
The army ordered hundreds of thousands of Israelis within a 40 km (25 mile) radius of the Gaza Strip to stay indoors, including Israelis in the major southern city of Beersheva, Lerner said.
Lerner said last month's kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank was connected to the intensified rocket fire carried out by Hamas militants in Gaza. Israel blames Hamas for the teens' abduction and is conducting a manhunt for two Hamas-affiliated Palestinians in the West Bank it believes carried out the kidnapping and killing.
The Israeli government has not yet provided proof of Hamas' involvement in the kidnapping.
Tensions have been high since three Israeli teenagers kidnapped June 12 in the West Bank were later found dead, followed by last week's slaying of the Palestinian youth.
The charged climate inspired President Barack Obama to pen an op-ed for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, published today.
“All parties must protect the innocent and act with reasonableness and restraint, not vengeance and retribution,” he said.
Additional reporting by AP
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