Israel sends troops into Gaza as casualties mount

Tel Aviv issues warning to besieged residents to hand over hostages and eliminate Hamas or face complete devastation’

- BEL TREW

Israel has launched a ground incursion into central Gaza, shattering hopes of a renewed truce, as the country’s defence minister warned they would step up attacks “with an intensity… not seen before”.

The Israeli military said it had resumed “targeted ground activities” in central and southern Gaza to retake part of the strategic Netzarim corridor, an area that cuts the besieged territory in half.

This came a day after its air force launched an intense wave of strikes, shattering a ceasefire and killing more than 400 people, including at least 130 children according to estimates, in one of the deadliest days in the 17-month conflict.

Yesterday, Israel escalated the violence as its troops pushed deeper into Gaza, with Israeli defence minister Israel Katz issuing a “final warning” to the people in Gazans that unless the hostages were returned and the Hamas militant group eliminated, “the alternative is complete destruction and devastation”.

Palestinian families in the north and east of the strip told The Independent they were forced to flee their homes again, after Israeli quadcopters dropped leaflets telling them to “evacuate”.

In a sign of the spiralling violence, also yesterday, the United Nations said a foreign staffer was killed and four others wounded when an “explosive device” was dropped on one of its headquarters in the centre of the strip despite the location being known to all parties involved in the conflict.