GAZA CITY: Israel briefly deployed troops inside the Gaza Strip for the first time early on Sunday as some 4,000 people fled southward from the northern part of the territory in the face of Israeli threats to step up attacks there.

Neither Israel nor Palestinians show signs of agreeing to a ceasefire to end their weeklong conflict, despite calls by the United Nations Security Council and others to end hostilities.

In the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he had appealed to UN Secretary General Bank Ki-moon for “international protection” for the Palestinian people. “The situation has become unbearable – hundreds of martyrs and thousands of wounded and huge destruction,” Mr Abbas said.

Foreign diplomats continued their efforts to end the bloodshed. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier will fly to Israel for talks on Monday and Tuesday with both the Israelis and the Palestinians.

The Arab League will meet on Monday to discuss the offensive.

With Israel massing tanks and soldiers at Gaza’s borders, some fear the latest Israeli threats could signal a wider ground offensive that would bring even heavier casualties than the 166 Palestinian deaths already registered. “All our ground forces are ready,” a senior Israeli military official said on Sunday. “We have been training for this. We will exploit our ability the moment a decision is made to do so.”

Early Sunday, Israeli naval commandos launched a brief raid into northern Gaza to destroy what the military described as a rocket-launching site.

The Israeli air force later dropped leaflets warning residents to evacuate their homes ahead of what Israel’s military spokesman described as a “short and temporary” campaign against northern Gaza to begin some time after midnight (0900 GMT). The area is home to at least 100,000 people. They read: “Those who fail to comply with the instructions to leave immediately will endanger their lives and the lives of their families. Beware.”

As the ultimatum drew near, hundreds fled Beit Lahiya, one of the communities the Israeli announcement affected. Some raced by in pickup trucks, waving white flags. The Gaza Interior Ministry, in a statement on Hamas radio, dismissed the Israeli warnings as “psychological warfare” and instructed those who left their homes to return and others to stay put.

Adnan Abu Hassna, a spokesman for the UN agency in charge of aiding Palestinian refugees, said eight schools were opened as temporary shelters, and about 4,000 people had moved in.

Ignoring international appeals for a ceasefire, Israel widened its range of Gaza bombing targets on Saturday to include civilian institutions with suspected Hamas ties. One strike hit a centre for the disabled, killing two patients and wounding four people.

A second Israeli air strike flattened the home of a cousin of Gaza police chief Taysir al-Batsh and damaged a nearby mosque as evening prayers ended, killing at least 18 people. Fifty were wounded, including al-Batsh himself, who had earlier received warnings that he was an Israeli target and had moved away from his own home.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2014