Gaza offensive to be expanded?

Speaking during a special cabinet session, broadcast live on television on Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "My instructions and those of the defense minister to the military, in accordance with the security cabinet's approval, is to prepare for the possibility of a significant broadening of the ground activity.”

“Last night our forces began a ground operation to hit the terror tunnels crossing from Gaza into Israel's territory…It is not possible to deal with the tunnels only from the air,” he added.

His statements came as Israeli troops pushed deeper into Gaza in a bid to destroy both tunnels and sites capable of launching rockets.

Ground troops sent in

The offensive was launched late on Thursday, following a 10-day campaign of more than 2,000 airstrikes against Gaza that failed to ease Hamas rockets targeting Israeli cities.

The operation, Israel's first major ground offensive in Gaza in five years, came as Hamas rejected an Egyptian truce proposal. Earlier this week, Israel accepted the ceasefire offer, but Hamas refused. The Palestinians had demanded that Israel and Egypt first provide guarantees that the Gaza blockade would be eased.

“We chose to begin this operation after the other options were exhausted and with the understanding that without the operation after the other options were exhausted and with the understanding that without the operation the price we will pay can be very high,” Netanyahu told the cabinet.

Israel's military announced that one soldier was killed in the northern Gaza Strip early on Friday morning.

Hamas claimed to have ambushed Israeli troops in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, causing the soldier's death, but Israeli media reported the casualty was most likely the result of friendly fire between Israeli troops.

Speaking to Army Radio, Israel's chief military spokesperson, Brigadier General Moti Almoz said "there were a number of points of friction through the night," adding the military was investigating the circumstances behind the soldier's death.

The military said later in a statement that 14 militants had been killed in a number of battles throughout Thursday night and Friday morning.

Early on Friday, Palestinian officials said around 20 Palestinians had been killed since the Israeli ground offensive began.

The deaths brought the total Palestinian death toll to 258, in what until Thursday had been strictly an air operation, Ashra al-Kidra, a spokesman for the Health Ministry in Gaza said via Twitter. Another 1,980 have been injured, he added.

International alarm

The ongoing violence in Gaza and Israel is being watched with alarm by members of the international community.

Speaking at a press conference in Berlin on Friday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Israel had the right to defend itself.

While United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged Israel to "do far more" to stop civilian casualties.

"There can be no military solution to this conflict," Ban said.

jlw/pfd (AP, dpa, AFP, Reuters)