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| Israel starts Gaza ground offensive | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The Israeli military has begun a ground offensive against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. | The Israeli military has begun a ground offensive against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. |
| The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they were extending their 10-day-old Operation Protective Edge. | |
| They said it was in response to continued militant rocket fire and to strike a "significant blow to Hamas", which controls Gaza. | They said it was in response to continued militant rocket fire and to strike a "significant blow to Hamas", which controls Gaza. |
| There was a five-hour humanitarian truce on Thursday but exchanges of fire resumed when it ended. | There was a five-hour humanitarian truce on Thursday but exchanges of fire resumed when it ended. |
| Some 230 Palestinians and one Israeli have died during the Operation Protective Edge period. | |
| Tunnels | |
| In a statement, the IDF said: "Following 10 days of Hamas attacks by land, air and sea, and after repeated rejections of offers to de-escalate the situation, the IDF has initiated a ground operation within the Gaza Strip." | |
| It said the goal was to "establish a reality in which Israeli residents can live in safety and security without continuous indiscriminate terror, while striking a significant blow to Hamas' terror infrastructure". | |
| The Palestinian Maan news agency said an intensive bombardment of Gaza by Israeli planes, artillery and ships was under way. | |
| The BBC's Quentin Sommerville in Tel Aviv says media colleagues in Gaza have reported seeing Israeli commandos on the beach there. | |
| Israeli media said one key aim of the ground offensive was to destroy militant tunnels that could be used to infiltrate militants into Israel. | |
| Israel says it has carried out more than 1,960 attacks on Gaza since 8 July, while militants have fired some 1,380 rockets at Israel. | |
| The UN says at least 1,370 homes have been destroyed in Gaza and more than 18,000 people displaced in recent hostilities. | |
| It says most of those killed in Gaza have been civilians. | |
| Humanitarian truce | |
| The ground offensive follows attempts in Cairo to negotiate a new ceasefire. | |
| Egypt has been mediating the negotiations between Israel and Hamas. | |
| There had been some reports that a new truce would start at 06:00 local time (03:00 GMT) on Friday. | |
| However, both Israel and Hamas later dismissed the reports. | |
| Thursday's temporary ceasefire had been requested by the UN and other international organisations to provide emergency relief and distribute water, food and hygiene kits to the people of Gaza. | |
| Are you in Gaza? Are you or is someone you know affected by the situation? Email your comments to haveyouray@bbc.co.uk using the subject 'Gaza'. | |
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