Six more Palestinians killed by Israeli offensive in Gaza

Israel invades Gaza after Hamas rejects truce

GAZA -- Six more Palestinians, including three children, were killed on early Friday, hours after Israel announced it had started a ground operation in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, medical sources said.

Health ministry officials in Gaza told Xinhua that two teenager brothers were killed by Israeli artillery fire in the northern Gaza Strip city of Biet Hanoun.

A five-month infant was killed and his mother injured when an Israeli warplane destroyed their house in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, medics said.

According to the same sources, a man was also killed in the same area.

Earlier in the day, two young men were killed by artillery shelling in Gaza-Israel border areas.

On July 8, Israel started an all-out aerial operation, dubbed "Protective Edge", to stop rocket fire from Gaza.

The operation has so far killed 246 Palestinians and injured more than 1,850 others.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered on Thursday a ground operation in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu's decision came after Egyptian and international efforts to reach a ceasefire failed.

Hamas warned that Israel would pay a heavy price for its ground offensive on Gaza.