Gaza reverberated with explosions tonight and tracer rounds streaked across the shore as Israel launched a long-feared ground invasion of the Palestinian territory.
After the deaths of 236 Palestinians and one Israeli, Operation Protective Edge escalated into a ground campaign on its tenth day.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said the mission was to destroy underground tunnels from Gaza into Israel.
“Operation Protective Edge will continue until it achieves its objective – to restore quiet and safety to Israelis for a long time to come, while significantly harming the infrastructure of Hamas and other terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip,” the Israeli government said in a statement
A Palestinian child shouts at al-Shifa hospital after Israeli forces shelled her house
Hamas said Israel will pay a “high price” for launching the ground invasion.
“The start of the Israeli ground attack on Gaza is a dangerous step, the consequences of which have not been calculated… Hamas is ready for the confrontation” said Fawzi Barhum, Hamas spokesman.
It was the first major Israeli ground offensive in Gaza in just over five years.
Lt Col Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, said that the operation is open-ended.
“We will be striking the infrastructure,” he said. “We will be striking the operatives in order to safeguard the civilians of the state of Israel especially issues to do with tunneling, that was exemplified earlier today.”
Thousands of Israeli soldiers had massed on the border with Gaza in recent days, waiting for the order to go in.
After a brief “humanitarian” ceasefire ended at 3pm, Hamas resumed firing rockets and Israel hit back with a steadily escalating bombardment.
By 8pm, the coast pulsated with the rhythmic thud of naval gunfire from unseen warships in the night. Red tracer rounds streaked inland from the darkness of the Mediterranean, apparently illuminating targets. The resounding crash of air strikes echoed from within Gaza City itself.
Israel had agreed to a request from the United Nations for a truce to allow the distribution of aid. Hamas also promised to suspend its rocket attacks.
However, before the ceasefire began at 10am, Hamas fighters tried to break into Israel through a tunnel from the southern end of the Gaza Strip, said Col Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the Israel Defence Forces.
Palestinians collect belongings in a damaged building following an Israeli air strike before a five-hour truce went into effect, Gaza (Rex
This attempted “terror attack” was “foiled” by an air strike, he added.
During the ceasefire, three mortar bombs were fired into Israel, although it was not clear whether Hamas was responsible or Islamic Jihad, a rival group that rejected the truce.
When the ceasefire ended at 3pm, rockets were fired immediately towards the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon. At 5pm, four rockets were fired from the centre of Gaza City. The explosions of Israeli air strikes were soon audible.
The fighting has claimed the lives of one Israeli and 237 Palestinians, including four boys, three from the same family, who were killed by shellfire as they played on a beach in Gaza on Wednesday. Another four were wounded.
A complete ceasefire agreement is being negotiated by Egyptian mediators in Cairo had attempted to achieve a complete ceasefire agreement and both Israel and Hamas sent delegations. But reports of a deal were soon discounted.
During the truce, shops and banks in Gaza reopened for the first time since Israel started Operation Protective Edge on July 8. For a few hours, the streets were filled with traffic and long queues formed at cash machines.
Thousands of Palestinians have fled their homes, particularly in areas near the border with Israel. Some 18,000 people have taken refuge inside schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.
Inside the New Gaza Boys Prep School, every classroom has become a crowded dormitory. Families live cheek-by-jowl, with people sleeping on every available patch of floor. Mossadeq Femi Tanpora, 40, has been living in a classroom since Monday with his two sons and four daughters, aged between six and 14.
Soon after the family left their home in the town of Beit Lahiya, it was severely damaged by an air strike. “Nearby is my brother’s house: the bombing completely destroyed his house,” said Mr Tanpora. “In 2012, there was a ceasefire agreement and after that, areas near my home were attacked by F-16s. So I will not trust an agreement any more.”
The UN discovered 20 rockets hidden in an empty school.
It did not say who owned them, but condemned a “flagrant violation” of international law and said the weapons had been removed.