Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed an offer to end hostilities “on a mutual basis.” Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have pulled up a plan to invade Gaza from the ground in response to the rocket launched by Hamas.

IDF spokesperson Brigadier General Hidai Zilberman said on Thursday that more troops have been moved to the Gazan border, including soldiers from the Paratroopers Brigade, the Golani Infantry Brigade, and the 7th Armored Brigade,

The spokesperson further said, “We are ready to maneuver and, in principle, the IDF had approved several different plans for the ground offensive,” the spokesperson said, noting that the final decision to cross the border had not yet been made by the government.

The IDF said since May 10, the Palestinian militant group Hamas had launched more than 1,500 rockets into the cities of southern and central Israel, forcing many to hide in bomb shelters and killing six civilians, including a six-year-old boy, and an IDF soldier.

In response, Israel bombed over 650 targets in Gaza, destroying several high-rise buildings in the densely populated Palestinian enclave. They killed dozens of Hamas operatives, including several of the group’s top commanders. Gazan health officials, meanwhile, said that 69 Palestinians, including 17 children were killed in the airstrikes as of Thursday.

On Tuesday night, the Israeli military bombed the al-Jawhara tower, located in Gaza, which hosts the offices of 13 media institutions and NGOs, the International Federation of Journalists informed on Thursday.

United Nations called for urgent de-escalation on Wednesday to avoid ‘full-scale war’ as Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said its brutal onslaught on Gaza was “just the beginning.”