Israeli army conducted raids into Gaza: Al Jazeera correspondent

The Israeli military says its troops have carried out small-scale ground raids inside the Gaza strip, involving infantry and tank units.

After conducting raids in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, Israel's military spokesperson has said that they discovered bodies of Israelis and items, which probably belong to Israeli civilians taken as hostages by Hamas.

The military has previously said that dozens of Israeli civilians were taken hostage, including elderly people, families, women and children.

Since then, the military has been under pressure because the Israeli society wants to see some sort of effort undertaken by the military to rescue hostages before Israel begins its land invasion into Gaza. But this is a risky operation for the military and special forces might have to be deployed.

Al Jazeera's Charles Stratford joins us live from Ashdod in southern Israel.