Dharampal Gulati

Around 4,200 police officers were deployed in the French capital ahead of the protest on Saturday afternoon, dpa news agency quoted Franceinfo as saying in a report. By 7 p.m., 44 people had been arrested, and one policeman was injured, according to authorities. According to the Ministry of the Interior, between 2,500 and 3,500 people took to the streets in Paris, French media reported.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), citing its partners, reported on Friday that civilian infrastructure damage in the Gaza Strip includes more than 20 schools, reports Xinhua news agency. An estimated 2 million people live in Gaza and about 3 million more live in the West Bank.

Army spokesperson Jonathan Conricus said about 40 tanks participated in the 40-minute mission, reports dpa news agency. Conricus said the tunnel system, named Metro, operated as a sort of "city under the city". The extent of the damage to the system was unclear. The tunnel network is vital in the Gaza Strip for shifting goods and people in and out.

Meanwhile, combat troops have moved along the fence separating between the Gaza Strip and Israel amid "various stages of preparing ground operations", Jonathan Conricus, a spokesman with the Israel Defense Forces, told reporters. "The Chief of Staff is inspecting those preparations and providing guidance," he said.

In an interview with the local media on Wednesday, Hamas spokesman in Gaza Fawzi Barhoum also denied reports that a high-ranking Egyptian security delegation was expected to arrive in Gaza as part of the efforts to reach a ceasefire between Israel and the militant groups in the coastal enclave, reports Xinhua news agency.

Palestinian militant groups, including the armed wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), fired hundreds of rockets from the besieged coastal enclave at Israeli towns and cities in southern and central Israel, the Xinhua news agency reported.