Israel uncovered more than a dozen cross-border tunnels and engaged in gun battles with Hamas militants today on the second day of its open-ended ground operation in Gaza, as the Palestinian death toll there topped 300.

The death toll from Israel’s 12-day offensive against Hamas militants has topped 300, a Gaza’s health ministry has said.

Israel said yesterday it would not bow to international pressure to end air strikes in Gaza that officials there said had killed almost 100 Palestinians, despite an offer by US president Barack Obama to help negotiate a ceasefire with militants.

Israel bombarded the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip with nearly 200 airstrikes early today widening a blistering assault on Gaza rocket operations to include the prime minister’s headquarters, a police compound and a vast network of smuggling tunnels.

Israeli aircraft pummelled the rocket arsenals of Gaza militants and signalled a ground invasion might be growing near as troops, tanks and armoured personnel carriers massed near Israel’s southern border with the Palestinian territory.

A hard-line Iranian newspaper has called for retaliation against Israel, a day after a nuclear scientist in Tehran was killed by a magnetic bomb attached to his car.

REPEATED rocket fire from Gaza will push Israel into taking “aggressive action in the Gaza Strip,” the Israeli chief of staff warned MPs.