Eleven members of family die in Gaza air strike as two-storey home is flattened in deadliest incident of five-day-old conflict



Israeli leadership is prepared to 'significantly expand' military operation

Missile flattened Daloo family's home with four children among the dead

Israel appears to be deliberately striking homes of senior Hamas officials

US President Obama insists Israel has right to defend itself from missiles

William Hague: Hamas bears 'principal responsibility' for starting conflict



At least 11 members of the same family were killed in an air strike on Gaza yesterday.

The attack came hours before the Israeli leadership announced it was prepared to ‘significantly expand’ its military operation.

The missile flattened the two-storey home of the Daloo family, leaving four children and five women, including an 80-year-old grandmother, among the dead.

Scroll down for videos

A Palestinian man carries the dead body of a child out from the rubble after an Israeli missile struck a family home killing at least seven members of the same family in Gaza City yesterday Palestinians stand in the rubble of the Daloo family house following an Israeli air strike yesterday. Palestinian medical officials say at least 11 civilians, including women and young children, were killed

Bombardment: Smoke rises after an Israeli forces strike in Gaza City yesterday as Israel prepares for a possible ground invasion

Attack: Explosions in the Gaza Strip continue for the fifth straight day, injuring more Palestinians while militants continue rocket fire into Israel

Near the border: Around 16,000 Israeli reservists have been called up and the current reserve troop quota set for the Gaza offensive is 75,000

The attack was the single deadliest incident of the five-day-old conflict and appeared to show that Israel was deliberately targeting the homes of senior Hamas officials in the Palestinian enclave.

Last night as rescuers continued to search the rubble for survivors, the Israeli military said the target of the attack was a rocket mastermind from the Islamic Jihad militant group.

But a health official in Gaza dismissed the accusation, claiming the men of the family were also civilians.

The blast damaged nearby buildings, injuring other women and children and leaving survivors screaming in grief.

A Palestinian walks past a burning house after a bombardment yesterday

Palestinians retrieve belongings from a destroyed house after an Israeli air strike yesterday

The bodies of the children were later laid out in the morgue of Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital. The controversial operation brought the death toll in the Gaza Strip to 67 since the current round of hostilities began last Wednesday. Thirty-two of the dead were civilians. Three Israeli civilians have also died in the fighting.

There were growing fears last night that a ground invasion of Gaza was imminent, despite efforts to broker a ceasefire.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised the possibility of an invasion by saying: ‘The Israeli military is prepared to significantly expand the operation.’

He said Israeli soldiers ‘are ready for any activity that could take place’, adding: ‘We are exacting a heavy price from Hamas and terrorist organisations.’

Palestinians run to take cover during an Israeli air strike yesterday as the Israeli military widened its range of targets

The Iron Dome missile defence system intercepted a rocket fired from Gaza toward the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. A vehicle in the Holon area was damaged by shrapnel and caught fire

Members of the Palestinian Civil Defense carry a survivor after he was pulled out from the rubble of his destroyed house

Israeli tank battalions remain poised on the border with Gaza, while 30,000 soldiers and 75,000 army reservists have been called up. More than 500 Egyptian supporters crossed into Gaza last night to show their solidarity with the Palestinians. Israeli Defence Forces spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibovich said no decision on a ground offensive has been made yet but confirmed it is ‘still an option’. ‘We still have hundreds of targets in Gaza, including rocket launchers ready to fire rockets on Israel,’ she said. ‘The only thing of concern is how to stop the rockets threatening three million people – just under half of the total Israeli population.’ Rockets fired from Gaza yesterday made direct hits on the Israeli towns of Ashkelon Ashdod and Ofakim without causing any casualties, the IDF reported.

Possible ground offensive: An Israeli soldier stands next to an armoured personnel carrier at an area near the border of the Gaza Strip this morning

Palestinian girls run away after an Israeli air strike on a house in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday

A wounded Palestinian boy receives treatment in a hospital after being wounded in an Israeli air strike

Foreign Secretary William Hague said Hamas bears ‘principal responsibility’ for sparking the current conflict but added Israel risks losing international sympathy if it launches a ground invasion.

US President Barak Obama, beginning a tour of Asia, backed Israel’s right to defend itself and said any effort to resolve the conflict in Gaza ‘starts with no missiles being fired into Israel’s territory’.

Yesterday it emerged that Israel had sent a senior official to Egypt in an attempt to broker a ceasefire.

Israel said it was widening its campaign of air strikes by targeting the homes of militant leaders. More than a dozen Hamas-linked houses were hit yesterday.

Rubble: A destroyed house after an Israeli airstrike in the Jabaliya refugee camp yesterday

Palestinians inspect the rubble of a destroyed house after an Israeli airstrike next to a mosque, back, in a refugee camp

Destruction: A Palestinian boy stands next to a destroyed car following an air strike

But the deaths of members of the Daloo family threaten to change international opinion on the Israeli offensive.

The IDF says it has fine-tuned its weapons and tactics to avoid civilian casualties.

It also blames Palestinian militants for endangering civilians by storing and firing rockets from residential areas.

Palestinian militants continued their attacks, firing dozens of missiles into Israel reaching as far as the main city Tel Aviv.

Two rockets fired at Tel Aviv from Gaza were shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile defence shield, a police spokesman said.

A Palestinian journalist inspects his work car in Gaza City yesterday. An Israeli air strike hit a media building yesterday, injuring at least six journalists

Journalists run past press vehicles after the Israeli air strike on an office of Hamas television channel Al-Aqsa

The Foreign Press Association has expressed its concern after buildings housing news organisations in Gaza were hit during Israeli air strikes last night, injuring eight journalists

ATTACK ON MEDIA IN GAZA

The Foreign Press Association has expressed its concern after buildings housing news organisations in Gaza were hit during Israeli air strikes last night, injuring eight journalists.

The Israel Defence force said the sites that were targeted overnight 'were all positively identified by precise intelligence over the course of months', but the FPA has dismissed these claims.

The FPA said, 'One building [that was attacked] houses or has been used by the following FPA members: British news organisations Sky News, and Sky News Arabia, MBC TV, Al Arabiya, ORF and other European broadcasters'.

The other building hit houses ARD TV, it added.



Israel’s Channel Two TV station also reported two explosions and two interceptions by the missile protection system.

Meanwhile, a senior Israeli diplomat was spotted arriving in Cairo for secret talks aimed at ending the increasingly bloody conflict.

But government spokesman Mark Regev said Israel ‘is not interested in a temporary solution that will last only two weeks or a month’. He added: ‘If all that Hamas is willing to agree on is a time-out, then that’s not good enough.’

The conflict erupted on Wednesday when Israel killed Ahmed Al-Jabari, the military commander of Hamas, in a missile strike on his car in Gaza City.

Israel claims it was responding to escalating rocket attacks on its citizens with 124 fired between November 10 and 13. Al-Jabari, who Israel blamed for the rocket attacks, was killed the next day.

Attack: Smoke billows as debris flies from the explosion at the Al-Aqsa TV station which injured six journalists

Smoke trails are seen after a missiles was fired by Palestinian militants from Gaza City towards southern Israel yesterday

Injured: Young children are treated in the emergency room of the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday speaks with the IDF Chief of staff, centre, and the Defence Minister Ehud Barak ahead of the weekly cabinet meeting

Israeli soldiers prepare tanks at an Israeli army deployment area near the Israel-Gaza Strip border, in preparation for a potential ground operation

Palestinian demonstrators burn tyres during a protest against Israel's ongoing military operation in the Gaza Strip yesterday

Blaze: Palestinian demonstrators gather outside the headquarters of the Palestinian security forces in the West Bank city of Jenin

Palestinian youths throw stones toward an Israeli watchtower of the Israel's separation wall at a checkpoint in the West Bank city in Bethlehem, Palestinian Territory

A Palestinian girl holds a candle as she attends a solidarity protest near the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank city in Bethlehem

Israeli soldiers pictured as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel is ready to 'significantly expand' its operation against militants

Israeli soldiers are seen at an Israeli army deployment near the Israel-Gaza Strip border yesterday

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, left, speaks to journalists as US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, centre, listens on as they stand in front of a military Iron Dome defence missile system

Smoke rises during an explosion from an Israeli forces strike in Gaza City yesterday

Israel has put 75,000 reservists on standby amid speculation of an impending ground invasion

Missiles knocked out five electricity transformers, plunging more than 400,000 people in southern Gaza into darkness, according to the Gaza electricity distribution company yesterday

An Israeli Merkava tank is seen in a staging area on the border with the Gaza Strip

Under fire: A Palestinian youth takes cover behind a makeshift barrier (right) during clashes with Israeli soldiers at the Qalandia checkpoint, in the occupied West Bank yesterday

Iron Dome: Israeli soldiers watch as an Iron Dome launcher fires an interceptor rocket near the southern city of Beersheba yesterday

A student from the University of Birzeit is carried away injured during clashes with Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank town of Betunia

Israeli soldiers fire tear gas towards strone throwers demonstrating against the Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip in the village of Beit Omar, north of the West Bank town of Hebron

ISRAEL'S HOME-GROWN 'IRON DOME' DEFENCE SYSTEM Defence: An Israeli missile is launched from the Iron Dome defence missile system, designed to intercept and destroy incoming short-range rockets and artillery shells In five days of fighting against Gaza-based militants, Israel has used a missile-defense system called 'Iron Dome' to intercept rockets fired at populated civilian areas.



It says the new home-grown system has been a tremendous success. As of Saturday evening, the military said it had shot down some 240 incoming rockets, more than half the number of projectiles launched into Israel since Wednesday.



Here's a quick look at the system:

Produced by Israeli-based Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Iron Dome is meant to shoot down rockets and artillery shells with ranges of up to 70 kilometers, or 45 miles. It has been operational since 2011. How it works: The system detects launches of rockets and quickly determines their flight path. If it is headed toward populated areas or sensitive targets, it fires an interceptor with a special warhead that strikes the incoming rocket within seconds. Rockets headed toward open areas area allowed to land. Each Iron Dome battery is manned by a crew of 100 soldiers, including perimeter guards, working in shifts, and the entire system is connected to the larger Israeli multi-tiered air defense order of battle. The unit is a mobile battlefield installation that meshes radar information from a mini multi-mission and fire control radar, powerful networks and processors, launchers, GPS-guided rockets, and human operators pushing the buttons and making the decisions.

It is the first system of its kind that is designed specifically to detect the launch and trajectory of short-range rockets, and intercept them in flight if they’re deemed to be headed for a populated area, according to wired.com. Processors calculate a rocket's Ground Impact Point - whether it’s going to fall into an open field or an apartment building – and based on that decides whether to shoot it down or leave it alone. The incoming missile is not a static object that’s being fired at, so the interceptor missile is constantly provided with updated trajectory information. Currently, five Iron Dome batteries are deployed in Israel. Most are located in the south near Gaza. A fifth battery was deployed outside Tel Aviv on Saturday, two months ahead of schedule. Hours later, it shot down a rocket headed toward Tel Aviv. Missiles cost around $40,000 a piece. In 2010, the U.S. provided $200 million to expand development. Additional funding is currently being considered, with $70 million already allocated for the 2012 fiscal year. The system is part of what Israel calls its 'multilayer missile defense'. It is meant to protect against the tens of thousands of short-range rockets possessed by militants in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. Israel has also deployed its 'Arrow' missile defense systems for long-range threats from Iran. The military says its new 'David's Sling' system, being developed by Rafael to stop medium-range missiles, will be activated by 2014.





VIDEO: Military releases video, they say shows airstrike on Hamas buildings

VIDEO: Media building hit by Israeli fire in Gaza

VIDEO: Fighting flares amid fresh Israeli airstrikes



