The Israeli military has said for the first time that ground troops have been operating inside the Gaza Strip.
In a statement on Friday, the army said troops had entered Gaza to battle militants, destroy weapons and search for evidence about the missing hostages held by Hamas.
The announcement did not appear to be the beginning of an expected ground invasion of Gaza. Israel has been massing troops along the Gaza border since last Saturday’s deadly incursion by Hamas militants.
It came as Palestinians began a mass exodus from northern Gaza on Friday after Israel’s military told some one million people to evacuate towards the southern part of the besieged territory, an unprecedented order ahead of an expected ground invasion against the ruling Hamas militant group.
The UN warned that so many people fleeing en masse - almost half the Gaza population - would be calamitous, and it urged Israel to reverse the order.
Families in cars, trucks and donkey carts packed with blankets and possessions streamed down a main road out of Gaza City, the biggest city, even as Israeli strikes hammered neighbourhoods in southern Gaza.
