Israel sends ground troops into Gaza Strip

Israel launched a large-scale ground offensive in the Gaza Strip yesterday, escalating a 10-day military operation to try to destroy Hamas’ weapons arsenal, rocket-firing abilities, and tunnels under the Palestinian territory’s border with Israel.

It was the first major Israeli ground offensive in Gaza in just over five years, and came hours after Hamas militants tried to infiltrate Israel through a tunnel under the Gaza-Israel border, but were stopped by Israel.

Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, said the operation is open-ended.