BBC NEWS | Middle East | Israeli troops enter Gaza Strip

Israeli ground troops have entered the Gaza Strip, Israeli military officials have confirmed, a week after the offensive against Hamas began.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said the intention was to take control of areas from which Palestinian militants have been firing rockets into Israel.

Witnesses say armoured vehicles crossed into northern Gaza at four separate points, supported by helicopters.

In my opinion, not called for if you look at the proportionality of the conflict and the casualties.

Not only that, but a family member is supposed to be flying to Israel with an educational group TOMORROW.

NOT A GOOD TIME MAY BE HAD BY ALL.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Consulate has a Twitter account and is responding to queries about this action. Not surprisingly, ALL the links they show to stories, statements and editiorials about the ground action are supportive of their point of view that this is a necessary defensive action, and not an over-agressive offensive action. Disingenuous is the best you could say of the “official” reaction as reported by the consulate. They pick and choose reactions from, say, the office of the Czech EU presidency and the governor of New Jersey, and ignore negative reactions entirely.

Phone lines in Illinois and elsewhere will be burning up tonight. There are protest rallies in Tel Aviv, there’s going to be a lot going on, this will be Topic One in a lot of families of young people here.

UPDATE: My young relative is going, his parents are supportive, and that is that.