Violence spreads to West Bank, Lebanese border as death toll rises in Gaza

Soldiers opened fire on protesters in several towns in the West Bank and killed 10 people, according to Palestinian health officials.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said some 750 suspects have been arrested since the communal violence began this week.

On the Lebanese border, a 31-year-old was killed after Israeli troops fired on a group of protesters who gathered at the border with Israel, according to Lebanon's official news agency.

The Israeli military said troops fired warning shots toward the group after they sabotaged the fence and crossed over briefly. 

In Gaza, the death toll from the fighting rose to 132, including 32 children and 20 women, with 950 wounded, according to the Health Ministry.

The Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant groups have confirmed 20 deaths in their ranks, though Israel says that number is much higher.

Among the eight dead in Israel were a soldier patrolling the Gaza border and six civilians, including two children, Israeli authorities said.

The Palestinian religious affairs ministry said Israeli planes destroyed a mosque. A military spokesman said the army was checking the report.

Israeli aircraft levelled a multi-storey building housing a bank affiliated with the Hamas militant group in the enclave.

It was the third Hamas bank destroyed in Israeli air strikes in this week's deadly escalation and fighting.

The Israeli military also said on Friday that it had struck Hamas weapons production and naval sites in recent strikes on the Gaza Strip.

The Hamas armed wing released a video showing what they said was a drone attack the group launched targeting an Israeli chemical plant near a kibbutz in southern Israel. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army on the drone attack.

Gaza residents say the earth shook for hours

On Thursday, Israeli troops massed at the Gaza border, and an army spokesman spoke of a possible ground assault into the densely populated territory, though he gave no timetable.

A day later, there was no sign of an incursion.

A spokesman for Hamas' military wing said the group was not afraid of a ground invasion, which would be a chance “to increase our catch” of Israeli soldiers.

Before dawn on Friday, tanks deployed on the border and warplanes carried out an intense barrage on the northern end of the Gaza Strip. 

Resident Houda Ouda said she and her extended family ran frantically into their home in the town of Beit Hanoun, seeking safety as the earth shook for two-and-a-half hours in the darkness.

"We even did not dare to look from the window to know what is being hit," she said.

Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, said the operation involved tank fire and air strikes, aimed at destroying a tunnel network beneath Gaza City that the military refers to as "the Metro," used by militants to evade surveillance and air strikes.

"As always, the aim is to strike military targets and to minimize collateral damage and civilian casualties," he said.

"Unlike our very elaborate efforts to clear civilian areas before we strike high-rise or large buildings inside Gaza, that wasn’t feasible this time."

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the conflict could "unleash an uncontainable security and humanitarian crisis and further foster extremism,” not only in the Palestinian territory and Israel but also elsewhere in the region.

The fighting broke out late Monday when Hamas fired a long-range rocket at Jerusalem in support of Palestinian protests there against the policing of a flashpoint holy site and efforts by Jewish settlers to evict dozens of Palestinian families from their homes.

The violent clashes between Arabs and Jews in Jerusalem and other mixed cities across Israel has added a layer of volatility not seen in more than two decades.

Sources | ABC / Wires