Coverage of Operation Protective Edge remains widespread as it enters its seventh day. The Financial Times, Guardian, Times, Daily Mail, Daily Express, Daily Mirror, Sun and City AM all round up yesterday’s developments, headlining that thousands of Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip left their homes yesterday, heeding a warning by Israel of impending military action in the area. The Telegraph and Financial Times both focus on the first ground skirmish of the conflict, which took place yesterday morning between Hamas fighters and Israeli naval commandos who destroyed a long-range missile launcher. The Independent includes an eye-witness account from Gaza of the impact of the conflict.

The Independent and Independent i both emphasise that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday said that responsibility for civilian casualties ultimately lies with Hamas, as it is using the Gaza population as human shields to fire rockets at Israel. Metro focuses on Hamas’s threats to strike Tel Aviv over the weekend. Residents in Israeli towns and cities across southern, central and parts of northern Israel hurried to shelters yesterday as rockets were fired. Most were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system, which is profiled in the Times. A separate item in the Times focuses on the fear that rocket attacks engenders among Israelis. The Guardian online reports this morning that overnight rocket fire from south Lebanon was aimed at northern Israel for the third time in as many days.

An editorial in the Times calls for Israel to think about a long-term solution to the conflict after the current hostilities in Gaza come to an end. The Guardian’s editorial calls for an internationally-brokered ceasefire while conceding that, “fellow governments accept that Israel has little option but to reply with force” to the Gaza rocket fire. In the Independent, Deputy Managing Editor Will Gore defends the publication’s editorial stance on the conflict, saying that passionate criticism from both sides is often “myopic” and demonstrates the achievement of some kind of balance of coverage.

In the Guardian, former-Hamas adviser Azzam Tamimi says that Israel’s operation is a miscalculation, which will lead to a third intifada. In the Independent, Yasmin Alibhai Brown launches a scathing attack on “collaborators” with Israel’s position who she says must be “named and shamed.” She also claims that the Holocaust has provided Israel with “perpetual indemnity” over its actions.

In other regional news, the Telegraph reports that US Secretary of State John Kerry joined the P5+1 (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany) talks with Iran yesterday in Vienna over Tehran’s nuclear programme. Apparently, wide gaps still remain, especially over the number of centrifuges that Iran might be permitted, as the two sides aim to reach a long-term agreement by Sunday. The Times says that the French and German foreign ministers also joined the talks.

In the Israeli media, with Operation Protective Edge continuing, Israel Hayom leads with the apparent addition of another Iron Dome battery to further enhance Israel’s anti-missile system. Haaretz highlights that Israelis have come under fire from the south as far north as Haifa, while many Palestinians in northern Gaza have left their homes in anticipation of an Israeli incursion. Makor Rishon says that Israel’s leaders are continuing to deliberate over a ground operation while at the same time there are tentative international efforts for a ceasefire. Maariv says that US President Obama is urging Israel to take a diplomatic path, while Yediot Ahronot reports that Hamas is “feeling pressured,” having failed to notch up any real achievements during the conflict.

In commentary on the situation, Alex Fishman says in Yediot Ahronot that Hamas “made use of its entire repertoire of surprises,” but, “Now the question is whether Hamas took enough of a blow to be flexible in the negotiations. If the answer is negative—the ground operation will be the next step.” Also in Yediot Ahronot, Sima Kadmon says that Hamas, or at least many Gazan Palestinians are already begging for an end to the violence, concluding that Israel must be prudent over when to end the operation. She comments, “We have won. It is best not to reach a situation in which we will have to say: So sorry we won.”