Gaza: Defiant Hamas says Israel 'will pay dearly' for assault

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Israel says its troops’ invasion of Gaza focuses on tunnels An attempted underground attack by Hamas may have been the tipping point THE NEW YORK TIMES JERUSALEM — Israeli tanks rolled into the northern Gaza Strip Thursday night and naval gunboats pounded targets in the south as Israel began a ground invasion after 10 days of aerial bombardment failed to stop Palestinian militants from showering Israeli cities with rockets.

Israeli leaders said the incursion was a limited one focused on tunnels into its territory like the one used for a predawn attack Thursday that was thwarted.

They said it was not intended to topple Hamas, the militant Islamist movement, See Gaza: Page 9 [PHOTOGRAPH CAPTION, under the picture at the left of the page] In Gaza City, Palestinian men attend the funeral of three children who were killed by an Israeli missile strike earlier Thursday.

Hours later, Israeli ground forces crossed the border into Gaza. [credit] THE ASSOCIATED PRESS [SIDEBAR BOX at the right of the page] TIMELINE OF FIGHTING Key events leading to the invasion of the Gaza Strip after 10 days of airstrikes. Page 9A … Continued from Page 1 from its longtime rule of Gaza.

As rockets continued to rain down on Israeli cities, a military spokesman said the mission’s expansion was aimed to ensure that Hamas operatives were “pursued, paralyzed and threatened” as it targeted “terrorist infrastructure” in the north, south and east of Gaza “in parallel.”

However, a ground offensive could quickly lead to military and political entanglements for Israel, especially if more Palestinian civilians are killed. More than 250 Palestinians have already died in the air campaign, including 14 children under age 12 killed over the past two days, Palestinian health officials said. One Israeli civilian has died.

After the early-morning tunnel episode, the day settled into an extended calm as both sides observed a United Nations request for a five-hour humanitarian pause in the fighting. But by 3 p.m., the violence roared back. More than 120 rockets rained on cities throughout southern and central Israel all afternoon and evening.

“We will strike Hamas and we are determined to restore peace to the state of Israel,” the military spokesman, Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, told reporters in a conference call. “It will progress according to the situation assessment and according to our crafted and designed plan of action to enable us to carry out this mission.”

Israel began to call up 18,000 reservists, adding to 50,000 already mobilized in recent days; Lerner said the ground forces would include infantry and artillery units, armored and engineer corps, supported by Israel’s “vast intelligence capabilities,” air force and navy. Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas, called the invasion “a dangerous step.”

“The occupation will pay its price expensively,” he said in a statement referring to Israel, “and Hamas is ready for confrontation.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel did not make a public statement Thursday night, but several of his ministers said a unanimous Cabinet had authorized Netanyahu and the defense minister a few days ago to send in ground troops when they deemed necessary.

“With a heavy heart we embarked on this operation, in order to destroy the tunnels, as just this morning we have seen their deadly potential,” said Naftali Bennett, the economy minister and leader of the right-wing Jewish Home party. “Difficult days are ahead of us,” he added. “We are also operating against the rockets and all of the existing threats,

How this transcription was made

Date confirmed on the page (folio). The other part of this article was added on 2 November 2026 from a second clipping (m018_1.png).

Context added by this archive

Casualty asymmetry stated plainly in paragraph three - 'More than 250 Palestinians have already died... One Israeli civilian has died' - but the standing head over the page is 'ISRAEL' and the headline's subject is Hamas defiance, not the dead.

Nouns: 'Hamas operatives', 'terrorist infrastructure' (in quotes, from the Israeli military), 'Palestinian civilians', 'the Palestinian territory' (caption). 'Occupation' appears once, from Hamas, immediately explained to the reader.

Cite this clipping

"Gaza: Defiant Hamas says Israel 'will pay dearly' for assault," Omaha World-Herald, 18 July 2014. Covering Palestine archive, CP-2014-055. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-2014-055