Israeli soldiers work on their Merkava tanks in an army deployment area near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip on July 12, 2014.

This came as Israel is massing thousands of its troops on the Gaza border in preparation for a full ground attack.

The Israeli military has called up thousands of reservists for an all-out invasion of the impoverished territory.

The Israeli military says many soldiers have been lightly wounded in the latest fierce fighting with Palestinian resistance forces in the northern part of the blockaded region.

The military said the troopers were hurt during an incursion to destroy a rocket launching site, adding that the soldiers have returned to Israel.

It is the first time that Israeli ground troops are known to have entered the Gaza Strip as the Tel Aviv regime widens its range of bombing targets in the impoverished Palestinian coastal sliver to civilian institutions.

The Israeli military said it orders Palestinians in northern Gaza to “leave their homes for their own safety.”

Gaza’s Interior Ministry urged residents in the area to ignore Israel’s warnings and to stay in their homes, saying the announcement was Israeli “psychological warfare” and an attempt to create confusion.

Israel continues to pound the Gaza Strip for the sixth straight day. The latest Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 32 Palestinians in the besieged territory. At least 167 people have lost their lives in the Gaza Strip since Tuesday when the Israeli attacks began.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the Tel Aviv regime will not stop its attacks on the Gaza Strip.

JR/AB

http://www.presstv.com/detail/2014/07/13/371169/israeli-ground-troops-enter-gaza-strip/