Israeli tanks dig in at Gaza

Israeli tanks and bulldozers dug in across a mile-wide strip of Gaza's eastern frontier on Saturday, and Palestinian officials said military strikes had killed more than 300 people, most of them civilians. Israel sent in ground forces on Thursday after 10 days of air and naval barrages failed to stop rocket fire from Gaza. The military said its engineers were concentrating on a buffer zone 2.5 km wide, and looking to destroy concealed rocket launch pads and tunnels dug by Gaza's dominant Hamas after the last big flare-up of violence in 2012. Hamas said its fighters used one such tunnel to slip into Israel on Saturday, inflicting casualties. The Israeli military confirmed the incident near central Gaza, saying it killed one fighter, repelled the rest, and four soldiers were wounded. Palestinians also launched at least 18 rockets into Israel on Saturday, killing a man and wounding four people, including two children, in a southern Bedouin Arab village, said the police. Gaza officials said at least 325 Palestinians, including 70 children, have been killed in the 12-day conflict. On Israel's side, a soldier and two civilians have died.   Reuters