An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council will be held overnight - following an escalation in violence in the Gaza Strip.

The meeting comes amid claims by an armed wing of militant group Hamas that it's captured an Israeli soldier in Gaza.

13 others - and more than 100 Palestinians - have been killed in today's ground offensive in the territory.

That makes it the deadliest day in the conflict between Israel and Hamas so far.

Reporter Tom Rayner's in the Israeli city of Ashkelon near the Gazan border.