Israel began a ground operation and renewed bombing of the narrow Gaza strip late on Thursday as it ramped up its offensive to stamp out rocket fire from the Hamas-run enclave even as the Palestinian death toll topped 240.
The assault follows a brief humanitarian truce and despite an appeal from Washington, which cautioned against a land assault, for Israel to do more to protect civilian lives.
Hamas warned Israel would pay a “high price” for its escalation.
“Following 10 days of Hamas attacks by land, air and sea, and after repeated rejections of offers to de-escalate the situation, the Israel Defence Forces (army) has initiated a ground operation within the Gaza Strip,” it said in a statement.
The army said the aim of the operation is to protect Israeli lives and crush Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.
The objective was “to establish a reality in which Israeli residents can live in safety and security without continued indiscriminate terror, while striking a significant blow to Hamas’s terror infrastructure.”
Israel launched Operation Protective Edge on July 8 to stamp out rocket attacks from Gaza, but confined it to air attacks until late Thursday.
Shortly before the announcement of the ground operation, Egypt sharply criticised Hamas, saying the group could have saved dozens of lives had it accepted a Cairo-mediated truce.
Hamas had rejected the ceasefire intended to start on Tuesday and continued firing rockets at Israeli cities.
“Had Hamas accepted the Egyptian proposal, it could have saved the lives of at least 40 Palestinians,” Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri said.
