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STORY: A video clip released by the Israeli military on Friday (July 18) showed six tanks rolling in through the sand dunes of Gaza, after a soldier opened a border fence, and long rows of foot soldiers.
The video included a message from a commander communicated to ground troops, saying: "We are engaging in an operation against Hamas, in order to return the peace to Israeli citizens. Your nation is behind you and the terrorists from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are ahead of you."
Israel announced its first military fatality of an 11-day Gaza offensive on Friday and 23 Palestinians were reported killed in the coastal enclave hours after Israel launched a ground offensive.
Israeli bomardment from the air and sea were also stepped up as part of an offensive that has already taken a heavy toll in civilian lives but which Israel says is not meant to topple Hamas, the Gaza Strip's dominant Islamist group.
An Israeli milit