Inside Gaza: Constant Airstrikes And Shelling

The sound of airstrikes from above and artillery fire from the sea is constant in the Gaza Strip after Israel launched a major ground offensive, Sky's Sherine Tadros reports from inside the Palestinian territory.

More than 100 targets were hit in the first 10 hours of the assault - which Israeli authorities say is aimed at Hamas and other groups who have been firing rockets at Israel - and Palestinians fear this could be "just the beginning of the ground assault".

Tadros said smokescreens were visible in northern Gaza, indicating that Israeli tanks could be as far inland as 3-4 miles (5-7km).

Israel stepped up its ground offensive in Gaza early on Friday

"We've also been seeing Palestinian rocket fire coming from the northern Gaza Strip towards Israel, so that is clearly also continuing," she said.

"Palestinian fighters are trying to make the point they are still here and they are still fighting."

The Israeli military spent the early hours of the assault moving through the buffer zone along the Israel-Gaza border, Tadros said.

Smoke rises following what witnesses said were Israeli air strikes in Gaza

The Israeli authorities said they were clearing tunnels that they claim Palestinian militants use to try to infiltrate Israel.

"Israel says it is targeting terror tunnels but Palestinians really don't know what that means," Tadros said.

Overnight, power outages across the Gaza Strip left many areas in darkness.

An Israeli soldier stands near a mobile artillery unit outside Gaza

"It started in the northern part about 20 minutes or so before we heard the ground operation was under way," Tadros said.

She said flares fired from the Israeli side of the border were used to light up parts of the territory - a move that was then followed by renewed artillery fire or guided missile strikes. 

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Family Killed By Israeli Tank Shell In Gaza

Eight members of the same family have been killed by tank fire in northern Gaza, as the Israeli ground offensive continues.

The members of the Abu Jurad family - two men, two women and four children - were killed in Beit Hanun, emergency services spokesman Ashraf Qudra said.

Israel's military says is ready for a "significant expansion" of a ground offensive that has already claimed the 51 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier.

Israeli soldiers stand on top of tanks and armoured personnel carriers

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned: "My instructions are to prepare for the possibility of significantly widening the ground operation, and the military is preparing accordingly."

Mr Netanyahu said a ground assault was the only way to infiltrate Hamas' underground network.

While the United Nations has condemned rocket fire into Israel from Gaza, it says it is "alarmed by Israel's heavy response".

An Israeli Apache attack helicopter shoots a missile over the Gaza Strip

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is to travel to the region tomorrow to meet Israelis and Palestinians.

The offensive began on Thursday to destroy the weapons arsenal, infrastructure and underground tunnels used by Hamas, Israeli officials say.

The UN has said it is stepping up emergency aid to Gaza, where Israel's military offensive has worsened water shortages and raised fears of increased sewage contamination and water-borne diseases.

Smoke billows in Gaza after an airstrike on Friday

On Friday the Israeli Defence Forces reported they had "engaged and killed 17 terrorists".

Israel confirmed 20-year-old Sgt Eitan Barak had been "killed fighting Hamas terrorists".

The country's media is investigating the possibility he was a victim of so-called friendly fire.

An Israeli Defence Force photo of apparent Hamas tunnels

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called the ground offensive "foolish", adding that Israel would suffer "dreadful consequences".

"Netanyahu is killing our children and will pay the price," he said. "The ground invasion doesn't frighten us and the occupation army will sink in Gaza's mud."

Israel claimed 50 rockets were fired from Gaza overnight - 25 slamming into its territory.

Those injured in explosions and fighting are arriving at hospitals in Gaza

Israeli tanks and troops moved into Gaza following a 10-day campaign of more than 2,000 airstrikes that had failed to halt Hamas rocket fire on Israeli cities.

It is the first major Israeli ground offensive in Gaza in just over five years.

The army has confirmed that a draft of 18,000 additional reserve soldiers has been authorised by the government on top of the 30,000 already deployed.

Sgt Eitan Barak, killed in fighting overnight. Pic: Israeli Defence Force

The ground campaign followed a brief truce on Thursday in which Israel held fire to allow Gazans to stock up on food and other necessities.

More than 270 Palestinians have been killed since fighting began 11 days ago, with another 2,000 injured, according to the health ministry in Gaza.

Figures provided by the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights show that civilians account for more than 80% of the victims of Israel's assault since July 8.

An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires towards the Gaza Strip

A UN agency has said the number of displaced Gazans has almost doubled in the past 24 hours, hitting more than 45,000 people since the ground operation began.

Israel has confirmed two of its citizens have died.

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Israel Launches Ground Offensive In Gaza

Israeli military forces have launched a large-scale ground campaign in Gaza aimed at destroying Hamas' weapons arsenal and infrastructure.

"The prime minister and defence minister have instructed the IDF to begin a ground operation tonight in order to hit the terror tunnels from Gaza into Israel," said a statement from Benjamin Netanyahu's office.

A Hamas spokesman called the ground offensive "foolish", adding that Israel will "pay a heavy price".

Sky's Middle East Correspondent Sherine Tadros, on the ground in Gaza, reported heavy shelling and bombardment.

She said: "The power has gone out over most of Gaza so we can't see very much, but what we can hear is terrifying.

Flares fired by the Israeli military are seen above Gaza

"We have heard the sounds of constant bombardment coming from the naval ships for the past few hours. We have also seen flares lobbed over essentially to light up targets in Gaza and they were then shelled by the naval ships.

"We have also been hearing airstrikes and reports of many casualties going to the various hospitals.

"The power outage is causing havoc."

Gaza health officials said eight Palestinians were killed in the early stage of the operation, including a three-month-old boy who died after a shell hit his family's Bedouin tent in southern Gaza.

The operation comes after 10 days of intense fighting between Israel and the Islamic militant Hamas.

It is the first major Israeli ground offensive in Gaza in just over five years. 

The army has confirmed that a draft of 18,000 more reserve soldiers has been authorised by the government.      

Israeli troops preparing for the incursion. Pic: Israeli Defence Force

Mr Netanyahu's chief spokesman Mark Regev told Sky News the decision to launch the offensive had not been taken "lightly" but that action needed to be taken to "protect our citizens".

He said the chance of a ceasefire is now very unlikely: "This operation is only happening because Hamas rejected the ceasefire proposal supported by Egypt, a proposal supported by the United Nations.

"Hamas alone torpedoed the chance of a ceasefire and now Hamas is paying the price," Mr Regev said.

Earlier, Israel said it had foiled an attack by 13 Palestinian gunmen who tunnelled in from Gaza.

The Israeli army said the ground offensive is meant to strike a "significant blow to Hamas' terror infrastructure". 

"We know that Hamas terrorists are operating underground, and that's where we will meet them," Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said via Twitter.

Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal said the operation was destined to fail, in remarks to AFP in the Qatari capital.

"What the occupier Israel failed to achieve through its air and sea raids, it will not be able to achieve with a ground offensive. It is bound to fail," Mr Meshaal said from his exile in Doha.

Nightvision photo of Israeli troops in Gaza. Pic: Israeli Defence Force

Egypt's foreign ministry denounced Israel's "escalation" in Gaza and again demanded both sides accept a Cairo-proposed truce.

Thousands of Israeli soldiers had massed on the border with Gaza in recent days.

The ground campaign followed a brief truce earlier on Thursday in which Israel held fire to allow Gazans to stock up on food and other necessities after being largely holed up at home since the conflict began last month.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he regrets the escalation in Israel-Palestinian hostilities and urged Israel to do more to stop civilian deaths.

Israeli strikes have hit more than 2,000 targets in Gaza and Hamas launched nearly 1,500 rockets at Israel, the Israeli military has said.

Gaza health officials said 237 Palestinians, most of them civilians, had been killed since Israel began the air and sea offensive on July 8.

Israel has confirmed one death in the conflict.

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Plane 'Shot Down': Britons Among 298 Killed

A plane which crashed in eastern Ukraine with 298 people, including nine Britons, on board was reportedly shot down as it flew near airspace deemed unsafe for passenger jets.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was travelling at an altitude of 33,000 feet (10,000 metres) when contact was lost.

An adviser to the Ukrainian interior ministry told the Interfax news agency the Boeing 777 was brought down by a Buk ground-to-air missile, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew members.

As well as the Britons, the victims included 154 Dutch, 45 Malaysians, 27 Australians, 12 Indonesians, four Germans, four Belgians, three Filipinos and one Canadian.

The wreckage of the Boeing 777, which came down in Grabovo, Donetsk

Three infants are among the dead, and the nationalities of 41 passengers have yet to be verified. These are thought to include a number of Americans.

Some of the passengers were on their way to a UN Aids conference in Melbourne, the Australian government has said.

Plumes of thick, black smoke could be seen rising high into the air near the village of Grabovo, Donetsk, where the airliner came down.

Emergency services search through the wreckage of the crashed plane

The plane, which one eyewitness said split in half on impact, is almost unrecognisable in pictures of the crash site, with burning wreckage scattered across a vast area.

US President Barack Obama has told the Netherlands Prime Minister that Washington would support a "prompt, full, credible and unimpeded international investigation" into the disaster.

Malaysia Airlines, still reeling from the loss of flight MH370 in March, has said all its European flights will be taking alternative routes with immediate effect.

Flight MH17 was heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. Pic: Andreas Fietz

It revealed the route taken by flight MH17 had been declared safe by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

The Interfax news agency has reported that the plane's 'black box' flight recorder has been recovered.

Officials in Kiev were quick to deny any involvement, with President Petro Poroshenko lamenting what he called an "act of terrorism".

Smoke rises from the scene of the crash. Pic: PainkillerBOH/YouTube

US Vice-President Joe Biden said the jet appeared to have been deliberately "blown out of the sky", with an unnamed US official blaming Ukrainian separatists backed by Russia in an interview with the Reuters news agency.

However, separatist leader Alexander Borodai said the aircraft was shot down by Ukrainian government forces - a claim backed by another separatist, who told Reuters the rebels do not have weapons capable of shooting down a plane at such height.

Sky's Katie Stallard, in Moscow, said Igor Strelkov, the commander of the pro-Russian Donetsk People's Republic, appeared to have boasted about the incident on social media.

Debris from the Malaysia Airlines plane was strewn over a vast area

In one deleted message recovered by Sky News, he allegedly wrote: "We warned you not to fly over our sky."

Ukraine's security service also released what it claimed was a recording of an intercepted phone call between two Russian military intelligence officers, discussing the downing of the plane.

Sky's Mark White, citing aviation sources, said the aircraft appeared to have been flying close to a block of airspace deemed "unsuitable for civilian aircraft".

Air traffic controllers confirmed the plane was flying in open airspace but just 1,000 feet (300 metres) above a restricted zone.

"It raises questions about why the plane was near an area it had been advised not to fly through," White said.

"Did it stray into that area by accident or did the pilot decide it was a risk worth taking, perhaps as a fuel saving measure?"

A distressed woman waits for information in Kuala Lumpur

Stallard said the plane came down in an area that had seen heavy fighting in recent days, as tensions between Russia and Ukraine continue.

Data from Flightradar24 indicates the plane, which took off from Schiphol airport at 12.15pm local time, had just passed the city of Kremenchuk, around 300km (186 miles) from the Russian border, when it disappeared.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the incident was "absolutely unacceptable" and an "awful tragedy", but added: "This would not have happened if there were peace on this land ... and, certainly, the state over whose territory this occurred bears responsibility."

Vladimir Putin: Tensions in Uktraine to blame for 'awful tragedy'

Meanwhile, relatives of the victims of the MH370 tragedy have released a statement, saying: "Who would do such a poisonous thing to a civil aeroplane?

"Passengers on board are ordinary people, just like our relatives. Why let them experience the torture? Why let other people feel the same pain as we do?"

The disaster is the latest in a line of reported attacks on planes in Ukrainian airspace and comes a day after one of the country's Sukhoi-25 fighter jets was shot down.

:: Malaysia Airlines has set up an emergency line, 00 6 037 884 1234, for people worried their relatives may be on the flight.

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Israel And Hamas 'Accept Temporary Truce'

Israel and Hamas have agreed to halt fighting for five hours on humanitarian grounds on Thursday, while efforts continue to broker a longer-term truce.

A senior Israeli official told the Reuters news agency his country had agreed to a five-hour lull put forward by the UN, starting at 10am local time (8am BST).

A Hamas spokesman later said: "The Palestinian factions agreed to accept the offer from the United Nations for a cooling-down on the ground for five hours starting from 10 in the morning."

The father and brother of one of the children killed on the Gaza beach

The temporary deal came just hours after a group of Palestinian children were killed when a shell landed on the beach they were playing on.

Gaza's health ministry described the attack as "cowardly", while the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said the deaths appeared to have been a "tragic outcome" of a strike aimed at Hamas militants.

Leaflets were dropped warning of IDF strikes in Gaza

Promising a full investigation, an IDF spokesman added: "We have no intention of harming civilians dragged by Hamas into the reality of urban combat."

Earlier, Israel dropped thousands of leaflets, urging Palestinians living in northern and eastern parts of the territory to leave their homes.

It came amid continuing airstrikes on both sides of the border.

Palestinian militants fired dozens of rockets in the first six hours of a failed ceasefire plan brokered by Egypt.

That led to fresh strikes on Gaza, home to 1.7 million people, with the homes of senior Hamas leaders reportedly among the targets.

More than 210 Palestinians, many of them civilians, have been killed over the past week.

Israel, which has said it will "expand and intensify" its offensive, also confirmed its first death of the week-long conflict.

A man who was delivering food to soldiers suffered fatal wounds when a Hamas rocket struck the Erez crossing on the Gaza border.

Hamas was told it would "pay the price" for rejecting the ceasefire plan but officials for the group said they had not been consulted on the proposals and would not halt violence without a fully-fledged deal including Israeli concessions.

People carry their belongings among building debris in Gaza

It wants an end to Israel's blockade of Gaza and the opening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt as part of a truce deal.

It also wants Israel to free Palestinians it re-arrested after releasing them in a 2011 exchange for an Israeli soldier held by Gaza militants for more than five years.

In automated phone calls to residents of Beit Lahiya and the neighbourhoods of Shijaiyah and Zeitoun in Gaza City, the Israeli military told people to leave.

But Sami Wadiya, who lives in one of the areas likely to be targeted, said: "We know it's risky but there are no secure places to go to."

The raids have already prompted around 17,000 people to flee their homes, with many taking refuge in UN schools.

Israeli aircraft have struck close to 1,700 times in raids the country claims are designed to stop rocket fire from Gaza.

Since July 8, more than 1,200 rockets have been fired by militants towards Israel, hundreds of which have been intercepted by the Iron Dome air defence system.

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Putin: Sanctions Could Cause 'Serious Damage'

Vladimir Putin has warned a fresh wave of sanctions will take US relations with Russia to "a dead end" and damage America's business interests.

The US and the EU have stepped up measures over what is viewed as Russia's interference in Ukraine.

President Barack Obama has imposed the most wide-ranging sanctions yet, targeting major banks, energy and defence firms including Gazprombank and Rosneft Oil Co.

Steps are also being taken to prevent rebel groups and senior officials in Ukraine getting hold of funds.

"Sanctions have a boomerang effect and without any doubt they will push US-Russian relations into a dead end, and cause very serious damage," Mr Putin said.

Mr Obama announces fresh wave of sanctions

"And I am convinced that this will harm the national long-term interests of the American state, the American people."

Mr Obama said the US measures were "significant but targeted".

"I've repeatedly made it clear that Russia must halt the flow of weapons and fighters across the border into Ukraine.

"So far, Russia has failed to take any of the steps that I mentioned."

Meanwhile, EU leaders meeting in Brussels agreed a more limited package.

They agreed to impose asset freezes against around 11 more individuals but said measures will be expanded significantly at the end of July to cover "entities and persons" helping to undermine Ukraine's "sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence".

The European Commission will also "reassess and potentially suspend" co-operation programmes with Russia.

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Palestinians Urged To Leave Homes As Truce Fails

Israel's military has urged tens of thousands of Palestinians living in northern and eastern Gaza to leave their homes.

The move could signal more airstrikes are planned for those areas after Israel warned the ruling Hamas militant group would "pay the price" for rejecting a ceasefire plan.

Israel says it will "expand and intensify" its offensive as aerial assaults resumed on Tuesday after being briefly suspended following its acceptance of the Egypt-brokered truce.

Palestinian militants fired dozens of rockets in the first six hours of the ceasefire plan which led to Israel restarting its strikes in Gaza - that has a population of 1.7 million.

The fresh raids hit Gaza City, southern Khan Younis, Rafah and central Johr al Deeq, killing five people, reported the AFP news agency.

Israel has confirmed its first death of the week-long conflict - a man who was delivering food to soldiers suffered fatal wounds when a Hamas rocket struck the Erez crossing on the Gaza border.

People carry their belongings among building debris in Gaza

The Israeli military has told residents of the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya and the Gaza City neighbourhoods of Shijaiyah and Zeitoun in automated telephone calls to leave their properties.

Sami Wadiya, a resident of one of the areas likely to be targeted, said he would not leave his home. "We know it's risky, but there are no secure places to go to."

Prior to the calls, the raids have already prompted around 17,000 people to flee their homes, particularly in northern Gaza, with many taking refuge in UN schools.

Hamas officials said they had not been consulted on the ceasefire proposal and would not halt violence without a fully-fledged deal including Israeli concessions.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

More than 190 Palestinians, including many civilians - some children - have been killed by the bombardment over the last week and the Israelis say the raids are designed to stop rocket fire from Gaza.

Since July 8, Gaza militants have fired more than 1,200 rockets at Israel - hundreds of which have been intercepted by the Iron Dome air defence system - while Israeli aircraft have struck close to 1,700 times.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "It would have been preferable to have solved this diplomatically, and this is what we tried to do when we accepted the Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire.

"But Hamas leaves us no choice but to expand and intensify the campaign against it."

He added: "Hamas chose to continue fighting and will pay the price for that decision. When there is no ceasefire, our answer is fire."

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the movement had not been consulted on the truce bid.

"We didn't get to see the Egyptian proposal except through the media," he said.

"The idea of halting fire before there is any agreement on the conditions laid out by the resistance is unacceptable and we reject it."

Hamas has said it wants the end of Israel's blockade of Gaza and the opening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt as part of a truce deal.

It also wants Israel to free Palestinians it re-arrested after releasing them in a 2011 exchange for an Israeli soldier held by Gaza militants for more than five years.

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Middle East: Old Formula For Peace Will Not Work

A Complex Web Of Friends And Enemies

Updated: 10:16am UK, Sunday 13 July 2014

By Sam Kiley, Foreign Affairs Editor

Rockets fired from Lebanon into Israel at dawn. The opening of a new front for Israel already engaged in an escalating air campaign in the Gaza Strip? No.

Neither the Israelis nor Hezbollah, which has an arsenal of 100,000 rockets and controls southern Lebanon, are that stupid.

The missile attack on Israel's north was an attempt by Sunni militants to spark a confrontation between Hezbollah and Israel that both know would be a zero sum.

Why would Sunnis, in all probability descendants of Palestinian refugees from what is now Israel, want to do that?

It's Hezbollah, a Shia movement, after all, that has been a major conduit of experts, funding and modern rockets to Hamas, a Sunni organisation, in Gaza. Hamas and Hezbollah are allies.

But only when it comes to fighting Israel.

In Syria, Hamas has condemned the Assad regime, which like Hezbollah is backed by Iran.

Sunnis of Palestinian descent are among volunteers who have joined rebel groups fighting Damascus, while Hezbollah has sent thousands of its best fighters to the frontlines to defend the regime of Bashar al Assad.

There is a logic at work here.

If Sunni groups in south Lebanon can sucker the Israelis into a war with Hezbollah they could enjoy the double whammy of reduced pressure on Gaza, and the use of Israel's devastating air power against Hezbollah, the Sunnis' enemies in Syria.

No better example of an attempt to kill two birds with one stone.

It won't happen because both Hezbollah and Israel, foes who have the greatest respect for one another, saw through the plot some time back. It's not the first time it has been tried.

But it does signal just how the Middle East's tectonic plates of conflict have shifted and can overlap.

The explosion of sectarian Muslim war between Sunni and Shia in Syria, which has spread into Iraq and has destabilised Lebanon, has become the defining clash in a new age of chaos.

Rival regional powers Saudi Arabia and Iran use proxies to vie for influence and control.

The Saudis have become increasingly nervous of the spread of a Shia crescent from Tehran through Baghdad to Damascus and south Lebanon.

But Tehran has also used enemy forces to bolster the positions of its allies.

According to intelligence sources Muhsin al Fadhli, once a senior al Qaeda figure based in Iraq, has taken up an operational role inside Syria - at the instigation of the Iranian government.

Why would Tehran release someone to fight a key client and ally in Damascus?

Because radical groups like the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have fought harder against fellow rebel groups than they have against the Assad regime.

Tehran has split the rebels.

But now ISIS threatens Iran's client government in Baghdad showing that an enemy's enemy may be a friend from time to time, but will remain an enemy.

This may be complicated, but there is no excuse for stupidity in the Middle East. Failure to comprehend this can be fatal.

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Ukrainian Plane 'Likely Shot Down From Russia'

A Ukrainian transport aircraft was "probably" shot down from within Russian territory, Ukraine's defence ministry has claimed.

Ukrainian officials lost contact with the AN-26 transporter's crew near rebel-held Luhansk at lunchtime on Monday but all eight people on board managed to bail out safely.

A statement on the Ukrainian presidency website said only missiles "likely from the territory of the Russian Federation" would have been able to reach the aircraft at the altitude it was flying - 6,500 metres.

Pro-Russian rebels had previously claimed they had shot down the craft but their portable surface-to-air missiles work up to about 3,500 metres.

The AN-26 was carrying eight people, who were able to bail out safely

There was no immediate comment from Moscow on the plane.

Fighting has been intensifying around Luhansk as government forces stepped up efforts to disrupt rebel lines.

Warplanes inflicted heavy losses on the separatists during airstrikes overnight, Ukraine's military said.

Government troops retook several villages around Luhansk and reopened a corridor to the airport, it was claimed.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has accused the Russian military of sending officers to fight alongside the rebels in the east of the country.

A Ukrainian woman in Semenovka looks at buildings destroyed during combat

He also claimed that a newly developed Russian missile system had been used against Ukrainian forces during the previous three days.

NATO said Russia had increased its forces along the border and now had 10,000-12,000 troops in the area.

But amid the heightened tensions, Russia said it had invited the OSCE security monitoring group to two of its border crossings with Ukraine as a sign of "goodwill".

At the weekend, Moscow claimed a man in Russia had been killed by a shell that had come from across the border.

Ukrainian forces have been retaking territory on the edge of Luhansk

But Ukraine's National and Security Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko accused rebel fighters of being behind the cross-border shelling.

He told journalists on Monday morning: "The (rebel) fighters systematically fire mortar and shoot into Russian territory which killed a Russian citizen."

On Sunday, Vladimir Putin met with Angela Merkel at the World Cup in Brazil. The German Chancellor urged the Russian President to use his influence over the separatists to help bring about an end to fighting.

In the last two weeks, the government has halved the amount of territory held by the pro-Russia fighters.

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Gaza Conflict: Egypt Sets Out Ceasefire Plan

Egypt has proposed a ceasefire to end fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, state media is reporting.

The proposal calls for "unconditional acceptance" by 7am (UK time) on Tuesday. Both sides would then get 12 hours to implement the truce before participating in talks within two days in Cairo.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his security cabinet on Tuesday to discuss the plan, and will likely demand guarantees of an extended period of quiet.

Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official said the group, who want an easing of the Israeli-Egyptian blockade on Hamas-controlled Gaza, was studying the proposal.

"We are not begging for a ceasefire, but at the same time, we are not going to reject any understanding that can change the current living conditions in Gaza," he told AP on the condition of anonymity.

It comes as Israel charged three people with killing a Palestinian teenager who was set on fire and left in a forest.

Mohammed Abu Khadeir's mother shows a picture of him on her phone

Mohammed Abu Khadeir was taken from his home in east Jerusalem and apparently burned alive in revenge for the abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers, according to Israel's Shin Bet security service.

The three people, two of them aged just 17, charged over the 16-year-old Palestinian's death have admitted the killing and even re-enacted the murder, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

Shin Bet said the three suspects "patrolled Arab neighbourhoods of Jerusalem for a number of hours, in an attempt to find a victim to abduct, until they spotted Mohammed Abu Khudair".

After forcing him into a car, he was driven to the forest where he was beaten before before set on fire, the agency added.

Hamas militants were blamed for the killing of the three Israelis.

Since the deaths Israel has launched a concerted military operation against the group in the Gaza Strip.

An Israeli F-16 fighter jet flies over the Gaza Strip on Monday

Rocket attacks and airstrikes between Israel and Gaza continue a week on from the start of an Israeli offensive.

At least 172 Palestinians have been killed in the offensive, which Israel says is aimed at halting rocket attacks across the border.

At least one such rocket was fired from Lebanon into northern Israel on Monday, the Israeli military said. There were no immediate reports of casualties but Israel confirmed it responded by shelling the launch site.

More than 40 sites were bombed on Sunday night, while the Israeli military said it had shot down a drone from Gaza - the first one used by Palestinian militants in the latest violence.

Elsewhere, Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian man during clashes with stone-throwers in the occupied West Bank.

Activists said Israel also detained dozens of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Israeli tanks near the border with the Gaza Strip

The Palestinian Prisoners Club, which campaigns for Palestinians jailed by Israel, said 57 people were seized overnight, including 12 Hamas politicians.

That brings the number of Palestinians arrested since last month to 1,071, it said.

The Israeli military confirmed 25 arrests in the West Bank on Sunday night.

In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called the West Bank arrests "a continued Israeli escalation against our people".

Thousands of residents in northern Gaza have fled their homes after the Israeli military warned them to leave for their own safety.

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Search For Body As Costa Concordia Refloated

The Man Who Raised Costa Concordia

Updated: 6:30am UK, Tuesday 17 September 2013

By Tom Kington, on Giglio

The man who raised the Costa Concordia was given a hero's welcome on Tuesday by colleagues and residents of the island of Giglio, where the cruise ship capsized 20 months ago.

After running a control room on a barge near the wrecked vessel, salvage master Nick Sloane was greeted by a cheering crowd in the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday as he returned to Giglio port after the successful 19-hour operation to right the ship.

Around 100 members of the 500-strong salvage team toasted the 52-year-old South African salvage veteran with beer and prosecco outside a café on the quayside, shortly after the Costa Concordia was pulled upright onto undersea platforms with giant pulleys.

"This has been the most satisfying job of my life," said DJ Degraaff, 35, a Dutch salvage master. "It's been a hard job but now we are relaxed and satisfied. The ship is resting and that was the goal."

Mr Degraaff said his biggest concern as the ship was rolled upright was that her bilge tanks would collapse. "But we had reinforced them and they held," he said.

There would be no time off now, he said, since work must now start on adding flotation tanks to the starboard side of the ship before she can be refloated and towed away from Giglio.

But Denny Hoffschlag, 34, a Dutch diver, said there was a "lot of joy" among the salvage team after righting the ship. "This has given me goosebumps," he said.

Mr Sloane was accompanied on the quayside by Rich Habib, CEO of Titan Salvage, which won the contract to raise the Costa Concordia.

"The stakes were so high, but it went just the way we planned it," said Mr Habib. The so-called parbuckling did last longer than predicted, 19 hours compared to the 12 forecast, something Mr Habib put down to the need to use slightly more force in the pulleys than had been predicted.

"It needed more oomph," he said.

Habib also said that after inspecting the side of the ship he had seen that the two granite outcrops on which the boat had rested for 20 months had not pierced the hull of the ship. "The steel of the ship compacted on the rocks rather than being pierced by it," he said.

The care taken in raising the Costa Concordia without breaking it up had been done to respect the surrounding martime park, in contract to the common salvage practise of blowing up vessels said Habib. "It's a little bit easier to blow things up," he said.

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Israeli Troops Launch First Ground Raid On Gaza

Israeli troops have launched a ground operation in the northern Gaza Strip, the first since the offensive against Hamas began, as Palestinian deaths continue to mount.

The navy commandos' brief incursion - which ignored a United Nations call for a ceasefire - targeted a rocket launcher site, according to Israeli public radio.

The armed branch of Hamas confirmed that Israeli troops had exchanged gunfire with Palestinian fighters.

Thousands of residents in northern Gaza have fled their homes, after a warning from Israel's military that they should leave "for their own safety".

Artillery flares illuminate the sky following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza

Leaflets have been dropped into the town of Beit Lahiya near Gaza's northern border which read: "Those who fail to comply with the instructions to leave immediately will endanger their lives and the lives of their families. Beware."

Israel says it plans to step up its offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza over the next 24 hours in an effort to stop missiles being fired into Israel.

It has been massing military hardware and troops close to the border with northern Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military was hitting Hamas "with growing force," warning there was no end in sight. 

A picture tweeted by Israel claiming to target a militant rocket site

"We do not know when this operation will end," he told ministers.

In an interview on CBS's Face the Nation, he defended the offensive.

"When we began this interview we were under bomb alert and as the minutes passed now we're told people can go out into the open air again," he said.

"This is the kind of reality we're living in. And we'll do whatever is necessary to put an end to it."

Tel Aviv residents take cover during an air raid siren warning of an attack

Mr Netanyahu urged Americans to imagine US cities from the East Coast to Colorado, or 80% of the population, were under threat of rocket attack, with only 60 to 90 seconds to reach a bomb shelter.

"That's what we're experiencing right now, as we speak," he said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has phoned Mr Netanyahu to renew a US offer to help mediate a truce.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is to ask the United Nations for international protection as the six-day offensive continues.

Israeli soldiers rest in the shade of trees near central Gaza

Israel began its offensive on Tuesday in response to weeks of rocket attacks from Hamas militants in Gaza, who are understood to have fired more than 600 missiles into the country.

Two more rockets shot from Gaza were destroyed over the Tel Aviv area by the Iron Dome missile defence system on Sunday, several hours after another two rockets were intercepted over Lod, close to the country's main airport.

Hamas has denied being behind a rocket attack on Israel from Lebanon on Saturday evening.

A rocket fired from Syria hit the Golan Heights, falling on open ground and causing no casualties, an army spokeswoman told AFP.

Israeli soldiers walk across a field near central Gaza strip

Earlier that day an Israeli warplane bombed the home of Gaza's police chief and damaged a nearby mosque, killing at least 18 people and wounding 50.

It was the deadliest single attack during the five-day conflict, which has now claimed 165 Palestinian lives and left more than 1,000 injured.

No Israelis have died so far in the latest conflict, and many of the rockets fired into the country have been intercepted by Iron Dome.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) defended its military campaign via social media.

"To warn civilians of an impending strike, the IDF drops leaflets, makes personalized phone calls & sends SMSes. How many militaries do that?" it tweeted.

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Gaza Residents Told To Leave 'For Own Safety'

The Israeli military has ordered Palestinians living in the northern Gaza Strip to evacuate "for their own safety".

Chief military spokesman Brigadier General Motti Almoz said Israel planned to step-up its offensive against militants and hit the area with heavy force in the next 24 hours.

Officials say the area has been used to fire rockets at Tel Aviv.

Artillery flares illuminate the sky following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza

Israel has been massing military hardware and personnel to the border with northern Gaza and says it will send messages to residents overnight telling them to leave.

Sky's Alex Rossi counted at least 100 armoured personnel carriers and tanks a few miles from the border though an Israeli Defence Force spokesman told Sky News a ground invasion was not imminent.

Four Israeli ground troops were hurt after they raided a rocket launching site in Gaza, according to the AP news agency.

A picture tweeted by Israel claiming to target a militant rocket site

Israel began its offensive on Tuesday in response to weeks of rocket attacks from Hamas militants in Gaza, who are understood to have fired some 600 missiles into the country.

On Saturday evening an Israeli warplane bombed the home of Gaza's police chief and damaged a nearby mosque, killing at least 18 people and wounding 50.

It was the deadliest single attack during the five-day conflict, which has now claimed more than 140 lives.

Injured Palestinians were rushed to al Shifa hospital in Gaza City as the bombardment continued.

Tel Aviv residents take cover during an air raid siren warning of an attack

Samah Al-Masri, the aunt of a 4-year-old girl injured in the strikes said: "As humans, you fear for your son and if you fear for your child or hear the sound of a rocket you will naturally want to hold them.

"When the child comes to hide in my arms and I find the entire house falling on top of us what do I do then?"

Dr. Ayman Al-Sahabany, Director of Emergency ward at al Shifa Hospital, said: "Women and children are more than half of the casualties. And children form a third of the total casualties."

No Israelis have died so far, and many of the rockets fired into the country have been intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system.

Two rockets fired from Lebanon hit the Nahariya region in northern Israel late on Saturday, an army spokeswoman told AFP.

Israeli soldiers rest in the shade of trees near central Gaza

The Israeli military said it responded with artillery fire toward "the source of fire", according to AP.

Hamas unleashed a barrage of rocket fire on Saturday after warning it planned to target Tel Aviv.

Three rockets apparently targeting the Jerusalem area fell short, hitting Hebron and Bethlehem, according to the Israeli army and Palestinian security sources.

The army said four rockets were fired at Tel Aviv. Three were intercepted above the city and the other hit open ground south of it.

Israeli soldiers walk across a field near central Gaza strip

Israel has been criticised for the civilian casualties that have resulted from its offensive on one of the most densely populated territories in the world.

The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said a majority of those killed so far are civilians.

Israel says it is acting in self-defence and accuses Hamas of using Gaza's civilians as human shields by firing rockets from there.

It said Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Gaza militant groups use religious sites to conceal weapons and establish underground tunnel networks, deliberately endangering civilians.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will not end the campaign until he achieves his goal of stopping the rocket attacks from a "terrorist organisation which calls for our destruction".

Former Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya said: "(Israel) is the one that started this aggression and it must stop, because we are (simply) defending ourselves."

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Middle East: Complex Web Of Friends And Foes

Rockets fired from Lebanon into Israel at dawn. The opening of a new front for Israel already engaged in an escalating air campaign in the Gaza Strip? No.

Neither the Israelis nor Hezbollah, which has an arsenal of 100,000 rockets and controls southern Lebanon, are that stupid.

The missile attack on Israel's north was an attempt by Sunni militants to spark a confrontation between Hezbollah and Israel that both know would be a zero sum.

Why would Sunnis, in all probability descendants of Palestinian refugees from what is now Israel, want to do that?

It's Hezbollah, a Shia movement, after all, that has been a major conduit of experts, funding and modern rockets to Hamas, a Sunni organisation, in Gaza. Hamas and Hezbollah are allies.

Hamas has condemned the Hezbollah-backed regime of Bashar al Assad

But only when it comes to fighting Israel.

In Syria, Hamas has condemned the Assad regime, which like Hezbollah is backed by Iran.

Sunnis of Palestinian descent are among volunteers who have joined rebel groups fighting Damascus, while Hezbollah has sent thousands of its best fighters to the frontlines to defend the regime of Bashar al Assad.

There is a logic at work here.

If Sunni groups in south Lebanon can sucker the Israelis into a war with Hezbollah they could enjoy the double whammy of reduced pressure on Gaza, and the use of Israel's devastating air power against Hezbollah, the Sunni's enemies in Syria.

No better example of an attempt to kill two birds with one stone.

It won't happen because both Hezbollah and Israel, foes who have the greatest respect for one another, saw through the plot some time back. It's not the first time it has been tried.

But it does signal just how the Middle East's tectonic plates of conflict have shifted and can overlap.

The explosion of sectarian Muslim war between Sunni and Shia in Syria, which has spread into Iraq and has destabilised Lebanon, has become the defining clash in a new age of chaos.

Rival regional powers Saudi Arabia and Iran use proxies to vie for influence and control.

The Saudis have become increasingly nervous of the spread of a Shia crescent from Tehran through Baghdad to Damascus and south Lebanon.

But Tehran has also used enemy forces to bolster the positions of its allies.

According to intelligence sources Muhsin al Fadhli, once a senior al Qaeda figure based in Iraq has taken up an operational roles inside Syria - at the instigation of the Iranian government.

Why would Tehran release someone to fight a key client an ally in Damascus?

Because radical groups like the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have fought harder against fellow rebel groups than they have against the Assad regime.

Tehran has split the rebels.

But now ISIS threatens Iran's client government in Baghdad showing that an enemy's enemy may be a friend from time to time, but will remain an enemy.

This may be complicated but there is no excuse for stupidity in the Middle East. Failure to comprehend this can be fatal.

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