Israeli mobilises thousands as troops, tanks enter Gaza: Hamas says kills a group of Israeli soldiers

A senior Hamas official said on Saturday that Hamas fighters had killed a number of Israeli soldiers in eastern Gaza. Mohammad Nazzal, who is based in Damascus, reported the deaths on Dubai-based Al Arabiya television. He gave no exact figures.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops entered Gaza under cover of darkness on Saturday, escalating the war on Hamas after artillery pounded the Palestinian territory and warplanes staged dozens of air strikes - one killing 16 people in a mosque. "Large numbers of forces are taking part in this stage of the operation including infantry, tanks, engineering forces, artillery and intelligence," a military spokesman said. Defence Minister Ehud Barak's office said thousands of reservists were being called up to take part in the ground assault.
Tanks opened fire before entering the northern Gaza Strip and Hamas forces replied with mortar fire, witnesses told AFP. Residents in the Gaza town of Beit Lahiya said the tanks opened up shortly after crossing the border. The air force and navy were supporting the operation in the Hamas-controlled territory, the military spokesman added.
Thousands of Israeli troops and tanks had encircled Gaza as Howitzers lobbed shells across the border hours earlier. F-16 jets roared over the enclave where at least 460 people have been killed in eight days of attacks. Gaza militants fired more rockets into Israel on Saturday, slightly wounding three people, and the exiled Hamas leader threatened a "black destiny" for Israel if it launched a ground invasion.
In one of the deadliest single strikes of the campaign so far, an Israeli jet fired at a mosque in the northern town of Jabaliya, killing at least 16 people among more than 200 people at prayer, medics and witnesses said. Four children - two brothers aged 10 and 12 and two cousins under 16 - were among the dead at the Ibrahim al-Maqadna mosque, medics said.
Dozens of wounded were dragged from the rubble. Two Hamas military commanders were also killed in air strikes as pressure mounted on the Islamist movement. One was Mohammad al-Jammal, whom Israel said ran "the entire rocket-launching enterprise" in Gaza City.
Another missile hit a car near the southern city of Khan Yunis killing two men, including Mohammed Ma'aruf, senior Hamas military commander in southern Gaza, medics and security sources said. Their deaths came just two days after an Israeli missile killed top Hamas leader Nizar Rayyan. Earlier a school in northern Gaza was destroyed in an air strike and a guard was killed. Israel said it had been used for firing rockets.
Israeli artillery hits threw up huge plumes of smoke from fields on the Gazan side of the 60-kilometre (37-mile) border. Israel frequently uses the shelling tactic before a ground incursion. Israel has staged nearly 800 air raids against Hamas leaders and targets which have included mosques and schools since launching "Operation Cast Lead" on December 27.
Gaza medics say 463 Palestinians have been killed - including 75 children - and 2,310 wounded. Four people have been killed in Israeli by more than 500 rockets fired from Gaza over the same period. Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal warned Israel on Friday of a "black destiny" if it invaded. But US leaders have given their key Middle East ally free rein to start a ground operation aimed at ending the rocket fire.
In a weekly radio address, President George W. Bush called on Hamas "to turn away from terror" and rejected calls for a unilateral cease-fire that he said would allow the Islamists to continue hitting Israel with rocket fire. Amid demonstrations around the world demanding a cease-fire, there is mounting concern over the humanitarian impact of the Israeli operation.
UN agencies have said there is a "critical" emergency in Gaza, where 80 percent of the 1.5 million population relies on international food aid. Up to 100,000 Arab-Israelis attended one rally in Israel and tens of thousands joined demonstrations in London, Paris - where police fought demonstrators - and other European cities.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to halt the military action, Brown's office said. "The prime minister has spoken again today to Prime Minister Olmert, and is pressing hard for an immediate cease-fire," a Downing Street statement said.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas was to meet French President counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy in Ramallah on Monday before travelling to New York to appeal for a cease-fire before the UN Security Council. Jordan's King Abdullah II told Quartet Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair that the world's "silence" on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza was unacceptable, the palace said.