The Palestinian father who was blown clean out of his home: Tragedy of man who came round to learn his wife and son had died in direct hit on his house

Father was blasted from his house on the Gaza Strip after direct missile strike that killed his wife and son

Israeli army has intensified its offensive on the Gaza Strip, striking Hamas sites and killing 17 Palestinians



Overall death toll has now risen to 47 in two days, the emergency services said, with more than 300 people wounded



Offensive has set off the heaviest fighting between Israel and the Islamic militant group Hamas since battle in 2012



U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday said 'Gaza is on a knife edge' and called for an end to violence




A Palestinian father was blasted yards from his house in the Gaza Strip after a direct missile strike that killed his wife and son.



Shocking photos of Mustafa Malaka, an officer in the Hamas security services, sprawled in the rubble emerged this evening as Israeli bombing of the Hamas-controlled region intensified.



Today the Israeli army stepped up its offensive, killing 17 Palestinians including 11 women and children in strikes, hiking the overall death toll to 47 in two days, hospital officials said. More than 300 people have been wounded.

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A Palestinian man lies in the rubble where his home once stood after a direct missile strike by Israeli forces that killed his wife and son

A Palestinian man helps Mustafa Malaka, whose home was hit by an Israeli rocket. The fighting in the Hamas-controlled region intensified today, with Israeli forces killing at least 38 people Flames light up the night sky above Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip following an Israeli air strike on Wednesday Buildings in the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip are engulfed in heavy smoke following an attack by Israeli missiles. Israeli leaders signalled that a ground invasion could be quickly approaching Three plumes of smoke rise into the air above the buildings of Beit Lahia in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. They signal three areas targeted by Israeli forces A rocket is launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel by Hamas on Wednesday. Israeli forces said they launched the new wave of attacks to try and quell militant movement

Further north, another missile hit Beit Hanun, killing 40-year-old Sahar al-Masri and her 14-year-old son Ibrahim, he added.

In Mughraqa in central Gaza, medics retrieved the body of 80-year-old Naifeh Farajallah from the rubble of her house damaged in an earlier air strike.

Overnight, Israeli warplanes struck 160 targets, raising the overall number of strikes to 430 since the launch of Operation Protective Edge in the early hours of Tuesday.

Elsewhere in Gaza, a 30-year-old man was killed in a pre-dawn strike on the southern city of Rafah. His identity was not immediately clear.

People carry rubble from a house that was damaged following an Israeli airstrike on Maghazi refugee camp People carry rubble from a house that was damaged following an Israeli airstrike on Maghazi refugee camp

Palestinian children climb over the rubble of a destroyed house, which was hit during Tuesday's air strikes. Today Israeli forces intensified the attacks, bringing the total death toll to 47

Palestinian relatives of the five members of the Hamad family who were killed in an Israeli missile strike late on Tuesday grieve in the family house in the town of Beit Hanoun

An Israeli couple were forced to flee their wedding as Hamas rockets exploded overhead

Guests at the outdoor wedding in the city of Holon, near Tel Aviv, ran screaming for cover as a rocket was intercepted in the sky, blowing up

Footage taken at the ceremony captures the moment another rocket and Iron Dome interceptor can be seen flying directly overhead soon after the first explosion

The Israeli army intensified its offensive on the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, as part of a military operation it says is aimed at quenching rocket fire against Israel

And several hours later, a drone fired a missile at a motorcycle in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, leaving 30-year-old Rafiq al-Kafarne clinically dead and another person severely wounded.

In Mughraqa in central Gaza, medics retrieved the body of 80-year-old Naifeh Farajallah from the rubble of her house damaged in an earlier air strike.

In the same area, an Israel missile killed two men in a field near Nusseirat refugee camp. Medics named them as Abdel Nasser Abu Kweik, 60, and his son Khaled, 31.

Local residents said that strikes are usually preceded by either warning fire or a telephone call telling its inhabitants to flee, in an attempt by Israel to avoid civilian casualties. There are also reports of civilians being warned by leaflets and text message alerts.



Meanwhile, the Consul General of Israel, David Siegel, on Tuesday said half of the country's population were in bomb shelters.



Mr Siegel told Ben Shapiro’s radio show on Seattle’s AM 770 KTTH: 'It’s a very difficult night in Israel. Roughly half our population, around 4 million people are in bomb shelters tonight.'

Palestinian relatives and friends of the Kawarea family carry their bodies during their funeral at the Khan Yunis refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday

Since Tuesday, Israel has attacked more than 400 sites in Gaza, killing at least 38 people. Palestinian relatives and friends of the Kawarea family carry seven bodies during their funeral in Khan Yunis

Two Palestinian women mourn the deaths of the members of the Kaware family who were killed in an Israeli air strike today

The Israeli military said that 48 rockets struck Israel on Wednesday, and its Iron Dome missiles intercepted 14 others.



On Tuesday night, an Israeli couple were forced to flee their wedding and run for cover as Hamas rockets exploded over their heads.

The couple and their guests in the city of Holon, near Tel Aviv, ran to shelters seconds after the first rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome defence system.



Footage captures the moment another rocket shoots directly overhead creating absolute pandemonium at the outdoor ceremony.

By early Wednesday, air raid sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and Israel's south, and the army said two rockets were apparently intercepted above the central Israeli city by an anti-missile battery.

There were also rockets aimed at Israel's Dimona nuclear plant, 80 km (50 miles) from Gaza, but were either shot down or landed in open country.

Palestinians stand atop the rubble of a house which police said was destroyed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on Wednesday

Eleven women and children were among 17 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza on Wednesday, hiking the overall death toll to 47 in two days, the emergency services said

A Palestinian boy carries his belongings as he walks past the rubble of his family's house destroyed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on Wednesday

A Palestinian boy rests on a mattress next to the rubble of a house destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Wednesday

Since midnight local time, at least 10 rockets struck Israel, and another 16 were shot down by Iron Dome, two of them over the Tel Aviv area, an army spokeswoman said.

Israeli media reported that two rockets crashed into the sea Wednesday off the northern port city of Haifa, some 165 kilometres (102 miles) north of Gaza. If confirmed, it would be the furthest a rocket fired from Gaza has ever travelled.

In the Gaza Strip, Palestinians cheered as rockets streaked overhead toward Israel, in attacks that could provide a popularity boost for Islamist Hamas.



Throughout Tuesday, 117 rockets struck Israel, with 45 of them targeting major cities in the centre, among them Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, as well as Hadera, 116 kilometres (72 miles) to the north.



Another 45 missiles were shot down by the Iron Dome anti-missile system.

Smoke and debris rises after an Israeli strike on the Gaza Strip seen from the Israeli side of the Israel Gaza Border on Wednesday Missiles launched by Palestinian militants fly towards Israel on Wednesday, setting off air raid sirens in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv Drivers take cover beside their cars on a highway as an air raid siren, warning of incoming rockets, sounds in Tel Aviv on Wednesday

Only four rockets were fired from Gaza toward Israel overnight, the army said, a significant decline from the large number that hit Israeli cities the night before

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (centre) and Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon (right) during their visit to the Southern Command, in Israel, on Wednesday

On Tuesday, 21 Palestinians were killed, including 17 in strikes on Gaza, as well as four Hamas militants who were shot dead after infiltrating southern Israel by sea.

Lerner, the army spokesman, told reporters that the military's aim was to take a 'substantial toll' on Hamas and to deplete its rocket capabilities. He said the army would gradually ramp up its strikes on Gaza.



'The organization is going to pay for its aggression. It is literally holding us hostage with its rockets,' Lerner said. 'The country is not willing for this situation to continue.'



Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called from the West Bank on the international community and the United Nations to 'provide international protection for our people.' He said in a televised statement late Tuesday that Hamas leaders in Gaza want to restore calm.



'I have been in contact with the regional and international parties in the last few days, particularly Hamas leaders in Gaza, and everyone I've talked to expressed his willingness to restore the truce and stop the escalation,' Abbas said. He called the Israeli offensive on Gaza an 'orchestrated and brutal aggression.'

Israeli soldiers prepare their tanks in a deployment area on Israel's border with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday

Israeli soldiers stand guard in a deployment area on Wednesday on Israel's border with the Gaza Strip

Palestinians clash with Israeli soldiers at the gates of the Beit El Jewish settlement in the Israel occupied West Bank near Ramallah

A Palestinian youth ducks during clashes with Israeli soldiers at the gates of the Beit El Jewish settlement in the Israel occupied West Bank near Ramallah on Wednesday as they protest against the bombardment of the Gaza Strip

Palestinians protest at the gates of the Beit El Jewish settlement in the Israel occupied West Bank near Ramallah against the bombardment of the Gaza Strip by the Israeli air force

Israelis ran for cover late on Tuesday as air-raid sirens sounded in the business capital Tel Aviv and the holy city of Jerusalem, both of which were hit in the Gaza war of November 2012.

Hamas said it also fired a rocket at the major northern city of Haifa, 140 km (88 miles) away, and though this was not confirmed, Israel said a rocket had landed in Hadera, 100 km (60 miles) from Gaza, further than had previously been reached. Authorities said there had been no casualties.

The Israeli military have called the massive display of force in the air Operation Protective Edge, and are calling up reservists for a potential land invasion of parts of the Gaza Strip, a senior officer said. Up to 40,000 would be called into active duty, while tanks are being moved to the border with Gaza.



Air raid sirens in the cities prompted people to flee Israel's Mediterranean beaches and take shelter in nearby hotels. On one of the beaches, Zikim, Israeli troops killed four Hamas gunmen who had crossed the Gaza border, according to officials.



The Israeli army also used its Iron Dome missile defence system to bring down rockets fired by Hamas at Israeli territory.

An explosion on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday as one of the sites targeted by Israeli forces goes up in flames

Smoke rises from the Gaza Strip after an Israeli airstrike in the west of Gaza City on Tuesday

Israeli army spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said warplanes early on Wednesday attacked more than 130 sites including Hamas command centers and rocket launchers. Pictured is an Iron Dome rocket launcher firing an interceptor missile

The hi-tech system intercepts rockets with its own missiles, before they can land in populated areas and explode, It has been credited with saving dozens of Israeli lives when it has previously been used.

The Israeli military said the open-ended offensive aims to deliver a blow against the Islamic Hamas group, and end the rocket fire that has reached deeper into Israel.

Israeli officials said the government had authorized the army to mobilize an additional 40,000 troops, if needed, for the operation. The army said there were no immediate plans to call up the troops but that they would be activated depending on operational needs. Israel has already mobilized about 1,500 reservists.



Israel said it wants to quell the rocket fire which has intensified in recent weeks amid tensions over the killing of three Israeli teenagers and the apparent revenge killing of a Palestinian teenager.



Nearly 300 rockets and mortars have been fired at Israel in recent weeks, including a barrage of about 80 projectiles on Monday alone, the military said.



Israel has responded with dozens of airstrikes. Eight Palestinian militants were killed yesterday.



It had signalled it would not launch a larger offensive if the militant group Hamas ceased the rocket fire.

