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Benjamin Netanyahu

Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel is prepared for a “significant expansion” of the ground invasion in Gaza, after overnight bombardments killed dozens of Palestinians.
The Israeli prime minister on Friday said that he instructed the army to “prepare for the possibility of significantly widening the ground operation”. “We don’t want to kill civilians, but Hamas is a terrorist organisation that hides behind human sheilds,” said Netanyahu. He added that the ground invasion’s stated aim of destroying tunnels used by Hamas fighters could not be done “only from the air”.

His comments came after a night of bombing throughout the strip, which killed 24 Palestinians and injured a further 200.
The Israeli army announced that a soldier had been killed, and two others were wounded, in operations inside the Gaza Strip.

The overall death toll has risen to at least 265 Palestinians since the beginning of Israel’s operation 11 days ago.
Israeli troops had moved several kilometres into the strip in operations the army said were targeting tunnels used by Hamas, the group which controls Gaza, but the incursions so far appeared limited.

Gaza City resident Ebaa Rezeq said that while Israeli soldiers remained near the buffer zone, air raids and shelling were continuing to terrify civilians.
In one of the air raids, a building housing local media offices in Gaza City was struck by three bombs. Israel maintains that the offensive is to destabilise Hamas and “demilitarise” Gaza.

Al Jazeera’s Nicole Johnston, reporting from Gaza, said that the attack was “just a small example of what’s been happening here across Gaza Strip all night”.
Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker, also in Gaza, said Israeli troops were targeting the tunnels which Palestinian fighters were using.

“Hamas has managed to set up a tunnel – the Gaza under Gaza — which is a new thing that didn’t exist in the last conflict”.
On Thursday morning, a group of gunmen had tried to enter southern Israel through a tunnel from Gaza. The army said eight of the 13 attackers were killed. The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said it carried out the operation. — Al Jazeera