nbc news special correspondent martin fletcher is in tel aviv. martin, what is the israeli government likely to do next? reporter: well, they re standing by to give the green light to the army for the ground invasion of gaza, but it s something that the government is divided about. there s a bit of split among ministers. the more hawkish ministers want the army to go in now. others do not. the army apparently is saying that if they re going to really inflict long-term damage on hamas, there will have to be a ground invasion. israel has called up 38,000 reserves who have joined the standing army. they re all gathered around the border with gaza waiting for that green light. meanwhile, israel is continuing to pound gaza from the air. the significant development has been that the israelis dropped leaflets on the northern gaza strip telling the residents, ordering the residents to leave
but while they re carrying out their talks, the violence on both side of the border have intensified as well. gaza came under heavy fire overnight from the air and warships in the sea, pummeling hamas command and control center, the rocket launcher by the ied. the defense forces say they have destroyed 50 underground rockets in sight. the ied says the rockets were fired from gaza to the populated areas in israel. fortunately they were intercepted by the iron dome. so it s a very precarious situation. you are right, lama, a strange 24 hours. early word yesterday that a cease-fire was in the making. as you said, the bombings continued here. so where do things stand now in terms of any chance for a
77 in miami. 67 in atlanta. 54 in new york. mostly 60s in the midwest and great plains. phoenix gets up to 81. we turn overseas now to the crisis in the middle east. gaza came under heavy fire overnight with at least 30 air strikes, hitting offices, banks, and an empty villa. secretary of state hillary clinton continues her high-stakes diplomacy, meeting with the palestinian leader and the president of egypt as well. yesterday hillary clinton met with israeli president benjamin netanyahu. if there s a possibility of achieving a long-term solution to this problem through diplomatic means, we prefer that. but if not, i m sure you understand that israel will have to take whatever action is necessary to defend its people. strong words once again from israel. clinton has indicated it could take some time to finally iron out an agreement after now more than a week of fighting. in case you re wondering, some of the numbers associated with this too. more than 130 palestinians,
violence in gaza. israeli air strikes killed a senior militant and five others in an attack on a car. elsewhere in the city, masked militants executed six people suspected of collaborating with israel. as attacks from both sides continue i strongly caution against a ground operation. reporter: diplomats converged on the region, including secretary of state hillary clinton. the rocket attacks from terrorist organizations inside gazaed on israeli cities and towns must end and a broader calm restored. reporter: the goal of the egyptian-led negotiations is to broker an immediate end to the fighting which cannot happen until both sides lay down their arms. if there is a possibility of achieving a long-term solution to this problem through diplomatic means, we prefer that. but go not, i m sure you
militants and civilians have been killed in gaza. gaza militants have fired more than 1,400 rockets at southern israeli communities. 800 of them exploded inside israel. that s according to the military. meanwhile israel says its military has hit more than 1,500 targets inside gaza. and so all the talk yesterday as an alleged truce didn t come to pass and the fire fight just continued in big numbers. and really you re going to hear the white house and white house officials, state department, secretary of state clinton, everybody referring to this now as no longer a cease-fire, but a deescalation. what does that mean? they don t want to characterize what is going to happen. hillary clinton said the focus on a durable outcome that promotes regional stability and advances security and general aspirations of israelis and palestinians alike. but the white house hasn t minced any words and said that they fully support israel in