Amid rumored nascent contacts for a cease-fire, Israel on Sunday further stepped up its strikes on Gaza, instructing civilians to evacuate certain areas and confirming boots on the ground in an overnight lightning raid.
Israel's military warned residents of Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip to evacuate the neighborhood and move south of Jebaliya by noon local time, in advance of a planned strike in specific areas.
Civilians failing to comply would be putting their lives as risk, cautioned dropped leaflets.
Prior to the warning, families began evacuating to a nearby school run by UNWRA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees.
Four-thousand displaced civilians have already taken refuge in UNWRA installations in Gaza, according to a tweet from spokesman Chris Guinness, urging all sides to respect the sanctity of U.N. installations and civilians.
The warnings followed what Gaza medical officials said was the deadliest night yet that killed dozens of Palestinians and pushed the death toll to 159 with more than 1,000 people injured, mostly uninvolved civilians.
A U.N. office of humanitarian affairs in the Palestinian territory stated that 70% of the Palestinian fatalities since Monday have been civilians, of whom 30% were children.
Casualties include 17 members of the Batsh family who were killed while praying at a mosque next door to a targeted building owned by Gaza Police Chief Tayseer Batsh, reported critically injured.
Israel's military continued to await government instructions on a possible ground operation, while intensifying strikes from the air.
On Sunday, the army confirmed an overnight lightning raid by naval commandos, sent under cover of aerial and naval forces to target a site believed to be the source of recent massive volleys repeatedly fired at cities in southern and central Israel.
Three Palestinian militants reportedly guarding the target were killed and four commandos injured in a gun battle at the site.
This is the first reported ground raid, although former navy commander Eliezer Marom told local media Sunday he assumed there have been others, as some targets cannot be hit from the air.
Also Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his cabinet for its weekly meeting, this time in a protected area in the defense ministry in Tel-Aviv rather than in Jerusalem.
As the meeting began, he said "We don't know when the operation will end, it could take much longer." He said Israel would continue to act with "patience, determination, responsibility and force in order to restore the quiet."
Six days into the crisis, Israel's military offensive remains at a crossroads between a ground operation and a cease-fire. According to former Intelligence Minister Dan Meridor, Israel should consider opting out now.
In an interview to Israel's Channel 10 TV, Meridor said Israel is reaching the achievable goals it defined for the operation, restoring enough deterrence to achieve an extended cessation of rocket fire.
On both defensive and offensive levels, Israel is "clearly winning at this point" and the longer it continues, the greater the risk of complications on either side that could turn the tables on the ground and in public opinion, Meridor said. "Israel's monumental success so far could turn into the exact opposite at any moment."
Meridor proposed Israel announce a halt in strikes and call on Hamas to so the same -- and wait for around 10 hours. "If they agree, this is the best way to end. If they don't, Israel will gain international legitimacy to continue," he said.
Demilitarizing Hamas could be a long-term objective but not likely to be reached under fire, said the former minister.
More than 800 rockets have been fired at Israel since Tuesday, around 150 of them intercepted by Iron Dome mobile air-defense systems deployed throughout the country to shoot down rockets headed for residential areas and strategic facilities, keeping serious casualties at a minimum so far.
While Iron Dome has succeeded so far in keeping serious casualties to a minimum and affording the government a margin for maneuver, financial and other damage is beginning to pile up as business is down and summer tourism threatened.
Another casualty of the rockets was Canadian rocker Neil Young, whose much-awaited concert planned for Thursday in Tel-Aviv has been canceled.
Previously, Young came under heavy political pressure from activists and musicians urging him to boycott Israel for its treatment of Palestinians. On Sunday, the Israeli producer stressed they decided to cancel for security and safety reasons.
Special correspondent Rushdi Abu Alouf in Gaza city contributed to this report.
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