Israel expands Gaza ground operations, intercepts missiles from Yemen

Israel's military on March 20 expanded ground operations across Gaza, after it reported missiles intercepted from Yemen, and Hamas militants said they fired rockets towards Tel Aviv.

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GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories —

The rocket fire from Hamas was its first military response to the growing civilian death toll from Israel's resumption of aerial bombardment and ground operations in Gaza this week.

The offensive has drawn widespread condemnation and shattered a relative calm in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory, where a ceasefire began on Jan 19.

Talks on extending the truce reached an impasse, and Israel resumed intensive bombing of Gaza on March 18.

Late on March 20, the military said troops had begun "conducting ground activity" in the Shabura area of Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city near the Egyptian border.

"As part of the activity, the troops dismantled... terrorist infrastructure," the military said, adding that "simultaneously, IDF (Israel Defence Forces) troops are continuing ground activity in northern and central Gaza".

Israel earlier said it had closed off the territory's main north-south route as part of expanding ground operations that resumed on March 19.

Gaza's civil defence agency said 504 people had been killed since March 18, including more than 190 under the age of 18.

The toll is among the highest since the war started more than 17 months ago with Hamas' attack on Israel.

The armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said it fired rockets at Israel's commercial centre in response to "massacres" of Gaza civilians.