New strikes signal invasion could be imminent

Israel attacks more than 100 Hamas targets as hospitals 'are overwhelmed'

- Rachael Burford

ISRAEL launched a fresh wave of air strikes in Gaza this morning leaving the Middle East on tenterhooks over a looming ground invasion.

Missiles hit areas in the south of the territory where Palestinians had been told to seek refuge as the Israeli military said it had struck more than 100 targets linked to terror group Hamas.

The bombardment came nearly two weeks after Hamas terrorists launched an attack on Israel, killing around 1,400 people. More than 200 people were kidnapped from Israel and taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip. At least nine Britons have been killed and seven remain missing, Downing Street said.

Around 3,000 people in Gaza have died in subsequent retaliatory strikes by Israel’s military. Palestinians today reported bombing in the town of Khan Younis. Nasser, Gaza’s second largest hospital, was overflowing with patients and people seeking shelter.

Israel’s defence ministry announced the evacuation of Kiryat Shmona, a town of more than 20,000 residents near the Lebanese border. Many saw this as a sign that a potential ground invasion of Gaza, that could trigger more regional turmoil, was imminent.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian health ministry said this morning that 13 people were killed, including five children, after Israeli forces raided and carried out an air strike on a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank yesterday.