It was the culmination of three weeks of Israeli missiles raining incessantly upon Gaza and, as darkness approached, the onslaught's intensity increased exponentially.

Israel sent its elite soldiers into the Gaza Strip on Saturday night to fight fierce street battles against Hamas as it prepared for a 'long and difficult' war - following weeks of relentless air bombardments. 

As well as airstrikes up and down the length of the Strip, one of the most densely populated areas on earth, artillery barrages and tank shells streaked through the gathering gloom, each bringing its own wave of destruction.