Israel pounded Gaza from the air as troops also pressed a ground assault, sending the Palestinian death toll soaring to 337 as the UN chief headed for the region in a bid to broker a ceasefire.
As world diplomats frantically sought ways to end 12 days of bloodshed in and around Gaza, Israel warned it was ready to intensify a ground operation to destroy a network of cross-border tunnels used by militants to infiltrate the Israeli south.
US President Barack Obama urged Israel to do everything necessary to curb the high civilian death toll, saying Washington was “deeply concerned about the risks of further escalation”.
