Israeli tanks move in to Gaza
Posted July 24, 2014 8:08 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Fighting raged on Thursday in Gaza as Israel said it needed more time to eradicate cross-border tunnels used by Hamas for attacks, while the Palestinian Islamists demanded the blockade on the Gaza Strip be lifted.
Israeli tanks and soldiers were seen moving into Gaza, as smoke billowed after explosions in the coastal enclave.
The death toll in Gaza reached 718 on Thursday as Israeli tank fire and other pre-dawn assaults killed 26 people in the Hamas-dominated enclave, including six members of the same family, Palestinian health officials said.
Israel has lost 32 soldiers to clashes inside Gaza and with Hamas raiders who have slipped across the fortified frontier in tunnels. Rocket and mortar shelling by Hamas and other Palestinian guerrillas has killed three civilians in Israel.
Such shelling surged last month as Israel cracked down on Hamas in the occupied West Bank, triggering the July 8 air and sea barrage on Gaza that escalated into an invasion a week ago.
