Six militants and a 12-year-old child were killed in an overnight Israeli air raid and artillery strikes targeting Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Hospital officials said twenty-six others were injured in the attacks.
About 50 tanks accompanied by bulldozers, crossed several kilometres into Gaza, taking up positions in a village outside the town of Rafah and at the Gaza airport, which has been out of commission for several years.
The Israeli forces advanced about eight kilometres into Gaza, taking control of the main highway and blocking the eastern entrance of Rafah, a town on the Gaza-Egypt border.
It was the farthest the Israelis have advanced in the area since the start of their offensive.
As the tanks took up positions, Israeli aircraft fired missiles at three groups of militants, killing two and wounding seven.
Two other people were slightly wounded when a tank shell hit their house, residents said.
The military said Israeli forces were carrying out an operation in southern Gaza, and an aircraft fired at militants who were about to launch anti-tank rockets at Israeli forces.
The Israeli military launched its offensive on June 28, three days after Palestinian militants killed two soldiers and seized a third in a cross-border raid.
The army says it aims to recover the captured serviceman and to stop militants in the Gaza strip from firing rockets onto Israeli territory.
At least 152 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier have died since the offensive was launched.
The United Nations has warned of a deepening humanitarian crisis in the area.
The UN backed by thirty aid agencies called on world leaders not to forget the urgent situation in Gaza, saying it is at least as serious as that in southern Lebanon.
Delivery of food and other essential items to the area has been reduced to a trickle.
One hundred and fifty trucks carrying food and essential supplies are currently crossing the border each day but according to Care International this is only just enough to stop the population from starving.