Israel launches large-scale ground operation in Gaza

At least 260 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1980 injured in relentless Israeli attack across the Gaza Strip since July 7, while only one Israeli was killed.

"The IDF's objective as defined by the Israeli government is to establish a reality in which Israeli residents can live in safety and security…, while striking a significant blow to Hamas' terror infrastructure," the army said in a statement.

The army said that troops from all army units, including infantry, armored corps, artillery and intelligence combined with aerial and naval forces will participate in the ground offensive.

Israel has called up 56000 reservists for the ground operation into the Gaza Strip.

Israeli warplanes have been pounding the Gaza Strip since July 7 with the stated aim of halting rocket fire from the Palestinian territory.

The Ezzeddin al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas, announced on Friday that it snipped an Israeli soldier in the southern Gaza Strip.

"Our mujahedeen [fighters] had managed to snipe the soldier from a close distance in the eastern part of the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis," the brigades said in a statement.

The Israeli army, for its part, has confirmed the death of its first soldier in the ongoing ground operation in the blockaded Gaza Strip.

It added in a statement broadcast by Israel Channel 2 that two other soldiers were also wounded.

Hamas said Thursday that Israel will pay "dearly" for launching a ground operation into the Gaza Strip.

"The Israeli occupation will pay dearly for the ground operation in the Gaza Strip," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told journalists.

He said that Palestinian resistance fighters were ready to fight Israeli forces on the Palestinian lands.

Israel's military operation, dubbed "Operation Protective Edge," is the self-proclaimed Jewish state's third major offensive against the embattled Gaza Strip - home to some 1.8 million Palestinians - in the last six years