Israel on Friday ordered some of its diplomatic staff in Turkey to leave the country for security reasons, after protesters angered by its assault on Gaza sought to storm Israeli embassy buildings.

Turkish protesters overnight tried to break into the ambassador's residence in Ankara as well as the consulate in Istanbul, with the diplomatic controversy over the Gaza assault risking a new crisis in relations between Turkey and Israel.

Bulgaria has identified on Friday Lebanese-French Mohammed Hassan al-Husseini as the bomber who blew up an airport bus in 2012, killing five Israeli tourists.

A joint report for the Bulgarian State Agency for National Security (DANS) and the prosecutor's office said in a statement that “the identity of the suicide bomber that carried out an attack at the Burgas Airport on the Black Sea coast was identified after DNA tests were run.”

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.

Israel launched a ground operation in Gaza late Thursday on the 10th day of an offensive to stamp out rocket attacks from the Palestinian enclave, the Israeli army said, as the death toll in Gaza rose to at least 240 and efforts to reach an Egypt-mediated ceasefire collapsed.

"Following 10 days of Hamas attacks by land, air and sea, and after repeated rejections of offers to deescalate the situation, the Israel Defense Forces (army) has initiated a ground operation within the Gaza Strip," it said in a statement.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday mulled holding a donors conference to rebuild Gaza, the Egyptian presidency said.

Sisi and Abbas, who discussed ways to end the Israeli offensive on the Palestinian enclave, also agreed that Israeli crossings to the besieged Gaza be opened to facilitate movement of people and goods.

The United States on Thursday urged Israel to do more to protect civilians in the conflict with the Palestinian Hamas movement, after Israeli air strikes killed four children in Gaza.

"We ask (Israel) to redouble their efforts to prevent civilian casualties. We believe there is more that can be done," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.

After proposing a stillborn truce denying Hamas any gains from its conflict with Israel, Egypt has had to negotiate with the Palestinian militants to halt the war on its doorstep, analysts said.

The initial truce was to have taken effect on Tuesday, apparently coordinated with Israel while bypassing Hamas.

Local Lebanese television networks decided on Thursday to air a unified newscast in solidarity with the ongoing Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip, a step that was endorsed by Information Minister Ramzi Jreij.

The initiative was launched by As Safir newspaper's Editor in Chief Talal Salman in coordination with prominent Lebanese and Palestinian figures, and it is scheduled to take place on Monday.