Israeli ground troops enter Gaza after 10 days of bombings and airstrikes

Israeli tanks rolled into the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday night and naval gunboats pounded targets in the south as Israel began a ground invasion after 10 days of aerial bombardment failed to stop Palestinian militants from showering Israeli cities with rockets.

Israeli leaders said the incursion was a limited one focused on tunnels into its territory like the one used for a predawn attack Thursday that was thwarted. They said it was not intended to topple Hamas, the militant Islamist movement, from its longtime rule of Gaza.

As rockets continued to rain down on Israeli cities, a military spokesman said the mission’s expansion was “not time bound” and was aimed to ensure Hamas operatives were “pursued, paralyzed and threatened” as it targeted “terrorist infrastructure” in the north, south and east of Gaza “in parallel.”

 As midnight approached Thursday, residents of some sparsely populated farmland in northern Gaza were cowering in their homes, afraid to answer mobile phones or peek out windows. Some sent text messages reporting that they could hear tank shelling, heavy artillery, and F-16s dropping bombs. Moussa al-Ghoul, 63, who lives northwest of Beit Lahiya, said his neighborhood had turned into “a war zone” with tanks surrounding his home, having destroyed those of two of his sons. He said shells were landing “everywhere.”Moussa al-Ghoul cries after seeing the dead bodies of two of his sons in the morgue of the Shifa hospital in Gaza on Thursday
Israel announced the start of a Gaza ground campaign on Thursday after 10 days of aerial and naval bombardments failed to stop persistent Palestinian rocket attacks, but it signalled the invasion would be limited in scope
 

Live: CNN reporter Diana Magnay reports live from Sderot as Israeli missiles strike Gaza behind her (to the right of her head in the picture)

Deleted: This tweet from Magnay was quickly deleted from her account - clearly expressing her outrage at the reaction of Israeli bystanders watching the attack on Gaza

Israeli soldiers are pictured on patrol along the border of Gaza ahead of the start of the ground operation on Thursday. As many as 240 people have died in Gaza, and one person has died in Israel

Fighting resumes: Within 20 minutes of the UN-brokered ceasefire ending, Israel began firing shells at what it calls 'terror targets' inside the Gaza Strip. Palestinian militants responded by launching homemade rockets