Israel ignored mounting international calls for a ceasefire, vowing not to stop its crippling 10-day assault until “peace and tranquillity” was achieved in towns in the line of Palestinian rocket fire.

Israel has called up thousands of reserve soldiers for a possible ground invasion as it widened its deadliest-ever air offensive against Gaza’s Hamas rulers.

Israeli warplanes pressing one of Israel’s deadliest assaults ever on Palestinian militants widened their sights today, dropping bombs on smuggling tunnels that are a major weapons pipeline for the Gaza Strip’s Islamic Hamas rulers.

Israeli warplanes retaliating for rocket fire from the Gaza Strip pounded dozens of security compounds across the Hamas-ruled territory in unprecedented waves of airstrikes today, killing more than 200 people and wounding nearly 400.

A six-year-old girl was decapitated by Israeli tank fire in Gaza, Palestinians said today.

Gaza erupted in the worst day of violence in a month, with at least 20 Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers dead, and putting Egyptian efforts to mediate a cease-fire in jeopardy.

Fifty-four people, including two dozen civilians, were killed as clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants escalated today.

Five Hamas militants, including two commanders involved in rocket attacks, were killed today when an Israeli aircraft blew up a minivan in southern Gaza.

Egyptian troops and Hamas police shot at each other across the volatile Gaza-Egypt border today, killing a Palestinian man and wounding at least 44 Gazans and Egyptians.

One of the most wanted Palestinian militants was killed today when an Israeli aircraft attacked a car travelling in the northern Gaza Strip.

Israel kept up its blockade of Gaza today despite warnings of a looming humanitarian disaster.

Israel kept up its blockade of Gaza today despite warnings of a looming humanitarian disaster.

Gaza City awoke today to shuttered bread shops and petrol stations today as Israel pressed ahead with efforts to stop Palestinian rocket fire, refusing to reopen crossings or allow in crucial fuel supplies.

Gaza’s only electrical plant shut down today after Israel blocked the shipment of fuel that powers them.

An Israeli airstrike killed four Palestinian militants in the southern Gaza Strip early today, Palestinian witnesses and officials said.

Israeli troops operating against rocket squads in Gaza today killed a teenager who health officials and witnesses said was hit by shrapnel from a tank shell, then run over by an army bulldozer.

Two Palestinian children were killed and a third was critically wounded today in a blast in northern Gaza, and the Israeli military acknowledged firing at rocket launchers there.

A six-year-old girl was killed and six other children injured in a large explosion in northern Gaza today, Palestinian health officials said.

A Hamas militant died today of wounds sustained in fighting last week, medical officials said, the latest death in a wave of factional violence in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians were lining up at petrol stations for a few more gallons before fuel runs out. Their government couldn’t pay the bill, and so the Israeli petrol company cut off supplies, a direct result of economic sanctions aimed at the Hamas-led regime.

An Israeli aircraft fired at three Palestinian gunmen trying to infiltrate Israel from the Gaza Strip today, killing one man and wounding the other two, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials.

ISRAELI troops yesterday fired missiles at the Gaza Strip and raided a West Bank town, killing two Islamic Jihad militants and arresting one of the group’s top leaders in retaliation for a suicide bombing that killed five Israelis.

A leading Islamic Jihad militant, Shadi Mohanna, was among five killed when Israeli forces fired missiles in a Gaza refugee camp after nightfall today.