Hours after ceasefire, Israel troops begin ground invasion of Gaza strip

According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, soldiers were ordered to target Palestinian militants’ tunnels in the region.

00:16 18 July 2014

Hours after the five-hour truce ended, Israel troops begun a ground invasion of the Gaza strip under orders to target Palestinian militants’ tunnel in the region.

An Israeli statement said: “The prime minister and defence minister have instructed the Israel Defence Force to begin a ground operation to hit the terror tunnels from Gaza into Israel.

The IDF later added: “The new phase follows 10 days of Hamas attacks on Israel by land, air and sea – and repeated rejections of offers to de-escalate the situation.”

It has emerged that 13 heavily armed Hamas gunmen were spotted after they tunneled out of Gaza. Eight were killed by airstrikes as they tried to go back into their tunnel.

An Israeli defence spokesman said: “We foiled a terror attack that could have had devastating and deadly consequences.”

Yesterday, three children – two boys and a girl aged between eight and ten, were killed by an Israeli strike. The children were reportedly on a roof feeding pigeons.