The Philippines ordered its some 100 nationals in Gaza to leave the besieged Palestinian territory Saturday, as the death toll from 12 days of Israeli strikes rose to 318.

The Gaza death toll hit 285 on Friday as Israel pressed a major ground offensive on the 11th day of an operation to stamp out militant rocket fire, medics said.

And a soldier was killed as the offensive got under way, raising the Israeli death toll to two, the army said.

The Israeli army's ground offensive in Gaza is purportedly aimed at destroying a network of sophisticated cross-border tunnels, which Hamas and other militants have dug to infiltrate Israeli lines.

In 2006 Israel imposed a blockade on the impoverished coastal enclave after Gaza militants captured an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid.

As Israeli troops pushed into Gaza overnight, intense tank fire shook parts of Khan Yunis, sending a flood of patients into the southern city's Nasser hospital.

The shells smashed into buildings near the border with Israel, prompting thousands to flee their homes under the cover of darkness, only missiles lighting up the sky.

French police have banned a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Paris on Saturday after protesters last weekend tried to storm two synagogues in the capital during a similar rally.

Police said in a statement Friday they could not guarantee a safe march "due to heightened tensions" fueled by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

About 200 people in Islamist-run Sudan on Friday called for "jihad" at a demonstration against an Israeli assault on Hamas in the Gaza strip.

The peaceful demonstration took place outside the Grand Mosque in central Khartoum following Friday prayers.

Pope Francis on Friday phoned Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza conflict, the Vatican said.

Francis "reminded the presidents" about the need "to bring an end to hostilities, making efforts to promote a truce, peace and reconciliation in the hearts of those involved", read a statement from the Vatican.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday he had ordered the military to prepare for a possible significant expansion of the ground operation against Gaza militants.

In his first public remarks since the operation began late on Thursday, Netanyahu said air strikes alone could not deal a significant blow to the network of tunnels used by Hamas militants to stage cross-border attacks on southern Israel. 

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas called on Israel to stop its ground operation in the Gaza Strip, saying it would cause more bloodshed and complicate efforts to end the conflict, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported Friday.

Abbas' remarks came hours after Israel launched a ground operation aimed at hitting the Palestinian militant Hamas group, and as the death toll in Gaza hit 248 early on Friday.

Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal said Friday that Israel's ground operation in Gaza was destined to fail, in remarks to Agence France Presse in the Qatari capital.