There is widespread coverage this morning of the heaviest day of fighting yet as during Operation Protective Edge. Israel launched a ground incursion on Thursday night with the immediate goal of uncovering and destroying a complex network of tunnels used by Hamas to launch attacks on Israel. On Saturday night and yesterday, it focused on the neighbourhood of Shejaya in Gaza City, where a bloody battle saw 13 Israeli soldiers and at least 60 Palestinians killed. The details are reported by the Times, Telegraph, Guardian, Independent, Financial Times, Independent i, Daily Mail, Daily Express, Sun, Daily Star and Metro. David Blair in the Telegraph and Peter Beaumont in the Guardian provide eye-witness accounts of the devastation in Shejaya and mention that Hamas fighters were visibly active in the neighbourhood. The Independent includes a separate item noting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments in a media interview yesterday in which he said Hamas is encouraging Palestinian civilian deaths to generate international sympathy.

The Times includes a feature on the Israeli military objective of uprooting the Gaza tunnel network. The Telegraph reports that in a phone conversation with Netanyahu, US President Obama expressed his “serious concern” at the growing number of casualties in the fighting in Gaza. The Guardian includes a feature on a number of Israelis from Sderot who have gathered on a hilltop to watch the military action in Gaza unfold. The Daily Mirror says that Hamas claims to have kidnapped an Israeli soldier, a claim denied by Israeli authorities. The Financial Times reports that efforts to broker a ceasefire are being complicated by splits in the Arab world between Egypt and most Gulf states on one hand and Turkey and Qatar on the other.

An editorial in the Times says that the current fighting in Gaza is a result of “Hamas’s Handiwork,” explaining that the Gaza Strip could have become the engine for a prosperous Palestinian state following Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from the territory in 2005. In the Guardian, Labour MK Hilik Bar questions media accusations over Israeli ‘disproportionality.’ He says that the disparity in casualties is due to huge Israeli investment in civil defence. Bar also says that a crude body count is not a measure of the conflict and asks how many Israelis would need to die for the operation to be regarded as ‘proportionate.’ Also in the Guardian, Owen Jones says that understanding the conflict also requires an understanding of the Israeli psyche of persecution. Meanwhile, in the Independent, Norwegian medic Dr Mads Gilbert who is currently based in Gaza, calls for international intervention to stop Israel’s offensive.

In other regional news, the Times reports that talks between the P5+1 powers (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany) and Iran over Tehran’s long-term nuclear programme have been extended for four months, with Germany’s Foreign Minister describing it as a “last chance” for Iran.

In the Israeli media, the lead story is the deaths yesterday of 13 soldiers from the Golani infantry brigade during fierce fighting in Shejaya. It is the top story in Maariv, Haaretz, Makor Rishon and in Israel Hayom which leads with the headline “Thirteen courageous brothers in arms.” Meanwhile, in Yediot Ahronot, the headline is devoted to comments made by Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon during a press conference yesterday evening, during which he said that the tunnels used by Hamas in Gaza will be destroyed within two or three days.

The press conference, which was conducted alongside Prime Minister Netanyahu is covered by a number of commentators. In Yediot Ahronot, Nahum Barnea praises the government for being “sober, responsible” and “not seized by momentary euphoria.” However, he also says that “the enemy sees right through our government,” which does not want a prolonged conflict. Ben Caspit in Maariv is more explicit, saying, “Hamas knows and is counting on the fact that Israel won’t go all the way. It is afraid of going all the way.”

Israel Radio news reports that US Secretary of State John Kerry is travelling to Cairo to try to help broker an agreement to an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.