5:33 p.m. ET: The UN Security Council commenced an emergency session on Friday afternoon to discuss the ongoing situation in Gaza.
Jeffrey Feltman, under-secretary-general for political affairs, spoke first, denouncing the violence and calling for a two-state solution.
UN's Feltman: Israel has legitimate security concerns. Indiscriminate rocket fire unacceptable. But UN alarmed by heavy Israeli response— UN Political Affairs (@UN_DPA) July 18, 2014
He said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will travel to Israel tomorrow to address the crisis.
Riyad Mansour, Palestine's Ambassador to the UN, spoke next. He began with an emotional reading of the names and ages of civilians killed in Gaza.
Palestine rep to UN struggles to hold back tears while reading statement in Arabic to Gazans. Keeps pausing to compose himself.— Andy Carvin (@acarvin) July 18, 2014
Mansour lamented the civilian casualties, saying Israel "increased its operations with full knowledge that civilians will suffer."
He then called on the Security Council to adopt a resolution "that condemns the Israeli military aggression against the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip, calls for its immediate cessation, calls for the lifting of the Israeli blockade on Gaza Strip, and calls for protection of the Palestinian people since Israel, the occupying power, has clearly forfeited its legal obligations to do so."
He ended his statement with a plea for global organizations "to provide emergency humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza in order to alleviate their grave suffering and devastation they are enduring."
Ron Prosor, Israel's ambassador to the UN, spoke next, defending his country's decision to attack Gaza.
"For 10 days, the life of 5 million Israelis has meant having just seconds to run to a bomb shelter to save their lives," he said, according to the
">Guardian live blog. "Our largest cities are being bombarded on a daily basis. There is no country in the world that would tolerate such an assault on its cities."
Prosor objected to Israel being called an occupying force. "Occupation? Does nobody remember anything? In 2005, after Israel withdrew from Gaza, there was not a solider, not a settler and not a single Israeli left. We left infrastructure behind to allow Gaza to succeed. We wanted it to serve as a model for two societies to live side by side in peace. But it didn't."
#Israel's @UN Amb. Prosor: “Our forces are in Gaza but to be clear, our forces are not fighting the people OF #Gaza.”— Molly Hunter (@mollymhunter) July 18, 2014
Prosor then called on the international community to stand for "good against evil, stand for right against wrong, and stand with Israel."
2:25 p.m. ET: Despite Israel's ground offensive, Hamas has not stopped firing rockets from Gaza toward Israeli cities. On Friday afternoon, several explosions were reported over Tel Aviv, where some rockets were intercepted by the air-defense system called Iron Dome.
From a rooftop in Jaffa we just saw between 5-6 missile interceptions. Three above Tel Aviv and 2-3 to the East heading towards Jerusalem.— Sheera Frenkel (@sheeraf) July 18, 2014
Major explosions over Tel Aviv— Brooklyn Middleton (@BklynMiddleton) July 18, 2014
The rockets' barrages prompted rocket sirens in Tel Aviv.
In total Hamas fired three rocket barrages into Tel Aviv area in the past 4 hours.— Daniel Nisman (@DannyNis) July 18, 2014
1:04 p.m. ET: U.S. President Barack Obama said that he spoke to Netanyahu on Friday, reaffirming his "strong support for Israel's right to defend itself."
"No nation should accept rockets being fired into its borders or terrorists tunneling into its territory," Obama said during a press conference.
Obama also added that the U.S. and its allies are "deeply concerned about the risks of further escalation and the loss of more innocent life."
11:55 a.m. ET: The Gaza Ministry of Health has an updated count of victims. The death toll in Gaza is now up to 274, with 2,065 injured people, according to Ashraf al-Qidra, the ministry's spokesman.
#عاجل_وزارةالصحة_غزةحصيلة العدوان الصهيوني المستمر على قطاع غزة حتى اللحظة 274شهيد و 2065 جريح— د.أشرف القدرة (@press221) July 18, 2014
Meanwhile, the number of refugees in shelters has swollen to more than 40,000, according to Chris Gunness, the spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
BREAKING NEWS: Over 40,000 displaced people fleeing fighting in #Gaza have sought safe sanctuary with UNRWA RT— Chris Gunness (@ChrisGunness) July 18, 2014
Earlier
Israeli troops moved deeper into the Gaza strip on Friday, looking for smuggling tunnels, weapons and rocket launching sites, hours after launching a sweeping ground offensive, the first in over five years.
After a night of fighting, Gaza health officials say that at least 20 Palestinians have been killed so far, while the Israeli Defense Forces reported one soldier dead in the offensive. The circumstances surrounding the soldier's death were unclear, but friendly fire was reported as a possible cause. The latest deaths move the overall victim count closer to 300 after more than 10 days of Israeli air strikes and Hamas rockets fired toward Israel territory.
#INFOGRAPHIC 260 Palestinians and 2 Israelis have died in the #Gaza conflict since July 7 @AFP http://t.co/xM4IGxR8cB— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) July 18, 2014
Journalists on the ground reported many civilian deaths, including those of several children.
I've seen some truly shocking scenes this morning. A man putting the remains of his two year old son into a shopping bag...— peter beaumont (@petersbeaumont) July 18, 2014
... three siblings hit by a shell in their bedroom. Last few days, the scenes i've come across often involving children #Gaza— peter beaumont (@petersbeaumont) July 18, 2014
3 children killed in tank shelling in north #Gaza— Stefanie Dekker (@StefanieDekker) July 18, 2014
Nearly 60,000 Israeli soldiers have been mobilized for the latest offensive, including 18,000 reservists called up overnight, although it's unclear how many are on hold and how many are already in Gaza. On Friday morning, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the army is ready to expand its ground offensive.
The Israeli government decided to send troops into Gaza after efforts to broker a ceasefire led by the Egyptian government stalled. The offensive has forced more than 20,000 Palestinians to seek refuge in emergency shelters designated by the United Nations.
"Where do we go?" family flees home, returns, flees again. Beit Hanoun #Gaza pic.twitter.com/hVMGNBQ12c— lyse doucet (@bbclysedoucet) July 18, 2014
11:36 p.m. ET: Protesters against Israel's military intervention have been organized in several cities around the world. On Thursday night, thousands of protesters gathered in front of the Israeli consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, throwing stones, smashing windows and chanting "Murderer Israel, get out of Palestine."
Istanbul protesters at Israeli Embassy replace Israeli flag with Palestinian flag via@FiratGunay pic.twitter.com/F0C2y9UIwV— sσmαччα jαвαrtí (@ArtiJabz) July 17, 2014
The protests continued in Turkey during the day on Friday.
Turkey: protest against Israeli attack on #Gaza pic.twitter.com/mtPdwSXn8K— Neyran Elden (@neyranelden) July 18, 2014
In the United States, protesters in New York City called for a march from Bryant Park to the Israeli consulate on 42nd Street and 2nd Ave on Friday morning.
Protestors depart from Bryant Park and walk towards the Israeli Embassy at the #nyc4gaza march (via @KevinDubouis) pic.twitter.com/xi6imPM2eD— Kari Paul (@kari_paul) July 18, 2014
#NYC4Gaza #OWS funeral march for Gaza NYC 42nd Street pic.twitter.com/TRyxxQhgYk— aaronburrsoc (@aaronburrsoc) July 18, 2014
Several protesters also gathered in front of the White House in Washington, D.C..
Protest at White House today Solidarity with #Gaza pic.twitter.com/kAowqGp5oc— Negar Mortazavi نگار (@NegarMortazavi) July 17, 2014