Israel deployed tanks and more troops to its border with Gaza early Friday, news reports said. Israel is considering a ground offensive.
Heavy artillery fire hit targets in Gaza early Friday on a fifth day of hostilities.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh encouraged citizens across the occupied territories and in Israel to demonstrate Friday, the second day of Eid al-Fitr.
New Press website quoted Haniyeh as calling for the marches in protest of the latest Israeli crackdown on Muslim worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque as well as the continuing bombardment of Gaza. A video posted by Safa Press agency early Friday showed protesters taking to the streets in Nablus. Protests were also reported in Jenin, Hebron, Tulkarem, Qalqiliya.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the U.N. Security Council would meet May 16 to discuss the situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Israel "air and ground troops are currently attacking in the Gaza Strip," Israel's army said in a tweet. Many news organizations took this to mean a ground war had started but Israel later responded there "are currently no IDF ground troops inside the Gaza Strip," Israeli Army representative Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said.
The sky was illuminated by explosions and fires.
Gaza health ministry officials said deaths now numbered 115 early Friday local time. This includes 26 children and 11 women. Another estimated 580 have been injured. Seven people have died in Israel - including a 6-year-old killed in a rocket explosion.
United Nations officials inside Gaza said scores had fled homes for refuge at schools and other emergency shelters.
"I said we would extract a very heavy price from Hamas," The Associated Press quoted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying in a videotaped statement. "We're doing that, and we'll continue to do that with heavy force," he said.
Meanwhile, Israel said street fighting between Arabs and Jews inside the country posed a larger threat than the military clashes with Gaza. Intercommunal violence, including shooting, stabbings, beatings and arson have been reported across the country, according to The Guardian.
"We have no bigger threat now than these pogroms, and we have no choice but to restore law and order via determined use of force," Netanyahu said.
Residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip celebrated the first day of the Eid al-Fitr religious holiday Thursday under relentless aerial bombardment.
A video posted on social media by New Press showed several alleged Israeli settlers attacking homes in Hebron in the West Bank early Friday.
