Thousands more Israeli troops are to join the fight in Gaza, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promising to destroy Hamas tunnels "with or without a ceasefire".
Some 16,000 additional troops are joining the operation in Gaza "to allow troops on the ground to rest", said an army spokeswoman.
The boost takes the number reservists involved to 86,000.
Israel has ordered its ground forces to locate and destroy a warren of cross-border tunnels that Hamas has used to menace southern towns and army bases.
Israel says it is close to destroying all Hamas cross-border attack tunnels Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting he was determined to finish the job "with or without a ceasefire".
He said: "I wont agree to any proposal that will not enable the Israeli military to complete this important task for the sake of Israel's security."
Strikes on Gaza continued on Thursday The army said 32 secret passages had been found so far and half of them blown up, with the end of the operation apparently just days away.
Three Israeli soldiers were killed on Wednesday by a booby trap detonated as they uncovered a tunnel shaft, the army said.
The Israeli military said it would also continue to target Hamas and the aerial bombardment of Gaza City continued on Thursday.
The school where Palestine officials say at least 17 died in shelling Hamas' military leader Mohammed Deif has said the militants will not cease firing until their demands are met.
The group wants Israel and Egypt to lift a border blockade they imposed on Gaza after Hamas seized the territory in 2007.
Nearly 1,300 Palestinians have died in three weeks of fighting, according to the UN's office for humanitarian affairs (OCHA). Gaza officials put the figure at more than 1,360.
Civilians make up two thirds of the dead and most of the wounded.
Condemnation also continues over Wednesday's shelling of a market and a UN-run school housing more than 3,000 refugees, in a day when 116 Palestinians were killed.
The locations of refugee camps in the Gaza Strip The United Nations' 80 camps are meant to be safe zones for the estimated 245,000 people who have fled their homes.
Furious UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the school shelling "outrageous" and "unjustifiable".
"Nothing is more shameful than attacking sleeping children," said the UN chief.
A carefully-worded White House statement said it "condemned the shelling" - which killed at least 16 - but did not mention Israel explicitly.
The Pentagon later confirmed it had agreed to an "emergency" Israeli request to stock up on grenades and mortar rounds from a store it has kept in the country for several years.
Pentagon spokesman Admiral John Kirby said the request was received on July 20 and approved three days later, without needing White House approval.
The strike on the Shejaiza market is said to have killed at least 17 people Israel, meanwhile, has said it is investigating the school shelling incident and repeated it does not have a policy of targeting civilians.
Foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor described the incident as "tragic" but blamed Hamas' "criminal entrenchment within civilian populations".
Fifty-six Israeli soldiers and three civilians have died in total on the Israeli side since the violence began at the start of July.
Hamas rocket attacks on Israel also continue but are far less damaging, with many intercepted by the country's missile shield.
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