Gaza  - The Islamic Hamas movement warned Israel Saturday night that by sending ground troops into the Gaza Strip it was falling into "the trap that our fighters had prepared for its soldiers and t

Tel Aviv/Gaza  - Israel launched its long-expected ground invasion of the Gaza Strip Saturday night, as infantry and armour, backed by air support, moved into the north of the salient after an artillery barrage lasting hours.

An Israeli military spokesman said the ground operation was the second stage of the Israeli offensive which began last Saturday, and was intended to destroy Hamas installations in the area of operations, and to lower the number of rockets being fired at Israel.

Hamas militants opened fire on the Israelis as they advanced into the Strip. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Tel Aviv - Israeli ground

Tel Aviv  - Protests continued around the world against the ongoing Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, including in Israel where tens of thousands of Israeli Arabs demonstrated in the northern town of Sakhnin.

In what media reports said was the largest demonstration of Arabs in Israel in years, the Sakhnin protest started with a minute of silence for the victims of the attacks which have continued for an eighth day.

Among the demonstrators were numerous Arab members of the Israeli Knesset (parliament).

Tel Aviv/Gaza  - Israeli-Palestinian violence in and from the Gaza Strip showed no sign of letting up Saturday, as the Israel Air Force (IAF) attacked 40 targets in the salient, and artillery also opened fire, and militants in the enclave continued launching rockets at the Jewish state.

For the first time since the offensive began one week ago, Israeli guns positioned along the border opened up in the late afternoon in what could be an indication that the long-expected ground invasion is close.

The artillery barrage continued for several hours. It was unclear whether it was an artillery shell or an airstrike which hit a mosque in the north of the Strip in the late afternoon, killing 11 Palestinians and wounding 50 others, 24 of them seriously.

Tel Aviv  - Tens of thousands of Israeli Arabs in the northern Israeli town of Sakhnin demonstrated against the ongoing military offensive in the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported Saturday.