Nearly half of Israelis are opposed to an “immediate” military ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, AFP reports citing a survey published today in daily newspaper Maariv.

According to the poll by the Panel4All institute, 49 per cent of respondents said it would be better to “wait” before launching a ground offensive on the besieged Palestinian territory.

Just 29pc of respondents said the offensive should start “immediately”.The poll was carried out on October 25 and 26 with 522 people questioned for the survey in the country of approximately 10 million.