Israel pounds Gaza, as people scramble for safety in sealed-off territory

Israel's military said Tuesday thatithad regained effective control over itssouth andthe border; tollat least 1,600 on both sides

Israel bombarded downtown Gaza City on Tuesday and expanded a massive mobilisation of reservists, vowing punishing retaliation against the Hamas militant group that increasingly left residents of the tiny Palestinian territory with nowhere to go.

Four days after Hamas militants stormed into Israel, bringing gunbattles to its streets for the first time in decades, Israel’s military said Tuesday morning that it had regained effective control over its south and the border.

The war has already claimed at least 1,600 lives on both sides ~ and perhaps many hundreds more. Israel has also said that Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza are also holding more than 150 soldiers and civilians hostage.

The conflict is only expected to escalate from here. Israel expanded the mobilisation of reservists to 360,000 on Tuesday, according to the country’s media.

And one major question is whether it will launch a ground offensive into Gaza ~ a tiny strip of land wedged among Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean that is home to 2.3 million people and has been governed by Hamas since 2007.