Live blog: Gaza under attack

A prominent Israeli columnist told The Anadolu Agency that the Israeli government's intent is not to protect the country's civilians.

A sharp critic of the government, Gideon Levy, a long-time columnist from the Haaretz daily newspaper, says the policy has only one goal: to kill Arabs.

“Since the first Lebanon war more than 30 years ago, the killing of Arabs has become Israel’s primary strategic instrument. Arabs are born only to kill and to be killed, as everyone knows. They have no other goal in life, and Israel kills them,” Levy said in an interview with AA.

The Israeli authorities have tightened security measures at checkpoints linking between the West Bank and East Jerusalem ahead of the Friday weekly prayers, eyewitnesses told the Anadolu Agency.

Israeli authorities have banned male worshippers under 50 and women under 40 from crossing into East Jerusalem for prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Egyptian authorities have reportedly sent expired food stuffs to Gaza, according al-Quds News.

"The humanitarian aid sent to Gaza from the Egyptians is all expired. Inedible," said Maysam Yusef from Gaza on her Facebook page.

 

"It's true that we are at war and it's true that 70% of households are lacking food but it doesn't mean we would eat expired food and be grateful." 

 

Medical charity Doctors of the World, says Israeli military action is damaging the Palestinian healthcare system and restricting access to humanitarian aid. 

Health services have been seriously damaged by air strikes and have had to endure frequent power cuts, the charity said in a statement. 

“Most of the cases received are women and children,” says Dr Hosam Abu-Elwan, an emergency physician for Doctors of the World. “Some essential drugs are starting to dry up and no one knows how long our stock will last”.

Turkish citizens staged a protest against the Israeli assault on Gaza at the consulate general of Israel in Istanbul in the early hours of Friday.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has voiced his regret that Israel launched a ground offensive against Gaza, despite calls for restraint, and stressed that there can be no military solution to the conflict.

“I regret that despite my repeated urgings, and those of many regional and world leaders together, an already dangerous conflict has now escalated even further,” he stated during a photo-op at United Nations Headquarters with his newly appointed special envoys for Syria.

“In the past 24 hours, there have been a number of incidents involving the deaths of civilians, including the appalling killing of four boys on a beach in Gaza City,” he stated.

“I urge Israel to do far more to stop civilian casualties. There can be no military solution to this conflict. This applies as much to Israel-Palestine as it does to Syria.”

The first Israeli soldier killed in the IDF's ground attack on Gaza has been identified as twenty-year-old Sergeant Eitan Barak from Herzliya, The Jerusalem Post reported. 

Two other soldiers have been reportedly injured. 

The Ezzeddin al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas, announced that it fired two M75 rockets at the southern Israeli city of Dimona, the Anadolu Agency reported. 

"Our mujahedeen managed to attack Dimona with two locally-made M75 rockets," the group said in a statement.

Dimona is the third largest city in the southern Israeli Negev region.

The death toll in Gaza has reached 260 people while the number of injured is now at 2000, declared spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, Ashraf al-Qudra.

Ayman Mohyeldin, an NBC News journalist whose powerful reporting from Gaza has drawn widespread praise, has been pulled out of the region, Glenn Greenwald reported on Thursday.

NBC told Greenwald that Mohyeldin, who has been replaced by chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel, was removed from the story due to "security concerns." The network refused to issue any further public comment or to explain why the security issues that demanded Mohyeldin's exit from Gaza did not apply to Engel.

Mohyeldin personally witnessed the killing of four Palestinian boys on a Gazan beach. 

The Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has announced that Turkey will call for an UN Security Council emergency meeting over the Israeli ground operation in Gaza, the Anadolu Agency reported.

Davutoglu will also call for an emergency meeting under the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the UN Commission on Human Rights. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to make public statement at 1100 local time.

Israeli ministers and the security cabinet will also convene then, reported Haaretz Newspapers. 

Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal said Friday that Israel's ground operation in Gaza 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," Meshaal said from his exile in Doha.