In a bombed-out street in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood, 50-year-old Om Walid Basal has said her apartment block had been destroyed by Israel, AFP reports.

“This was our house. We lived here just with our children. It was full of children,” she said. “Why are they bombing us? Why are they destroying our homes?”

Hamas insisted it was “ready” for an invasion.

Ezzat al-Rishaq, a senior member of the Hamas political bureau has said:“The remains of his soldiers will be swallowed up by the land of Gaza.”