The Israeli military “massacred” 15 Palestinian families across Gaza by targeting their homes over the past two days even as the death toll from Israeli airstrikes on the besieged enclave rose close to 500, Palestinian officials have said.
At least 493 Palestinians have been killed and 2,751 others injured in ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza, the health ministry in Gaza said.
The United Nations said separately that more than 123,000 people have been displaced in Gaza since the recent flare-up of violence between Hamas and Israel.
“Contrary to (Israeli) occupation claims of targeting resistance capabilities, the (Israeli) occupation army committed 15 massacres by bombing their homes directly without any warning,” Salama Marouf, chairman of the media office in Gaza, said in a statement on Monday.
Marouf added that the Israeli army is entirely to blame for these massacres of civilians.
“This difficult reality…necessitates an urgent action by the international community’s relevant organizations to curb the (Israeli) occupation which is following the scorched-earth policy within densely residential areas,” he added.
Israeli warplanes also destroyed a mosque in western Gaza City, bringing the total number of mosques fully destroyed to five, according to an Anadolu news agency correspondent.
Early on Monday, the Israeli army confirmed that it had struck over 500 targets in Gaza during overnight raids, claiming they were Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets.
At least 32 Palestinians were killed on Monday in fresh Israeli airstrikes, including 19 Palestinians of the same family in the city of Rafah south of Gaza City, as the besieged territory suffered the deadliest spate of violence in many years.
Five Palestinians were killed in another strike targeting a house in the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, they added.
Four people also lost their lives in another air strike on a house in the al Zaatar neighborhood in northern Gaza. An Israeli strike also targeted a house in Deir al Balah in central Gaza, killing three people.
A girl was also killed and several people were wounded in an attack on a mosque in the Al Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City.
Israeli fighter jets also staged several air strikes in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, the Interior Ministry run by the Palestinian group Hamas said in a statement.
The Israeli army said its aircraft continued to pound the Gaza in order to “devastate the capabilities” of Hamas.
A military statement said several command posts were destroyed in the attacks, including an “operational asset used by Hamas” located in a mosque in Jabaliya.
Palestinian groups in Gaza, meanwhile, fired volleys of rockets into southern Israel.
Biggest attack
Hamas said it fired about 100 rockets toward the coastal city of Ashkelon. One person was wounded when a rocket directly struck an apartment building in the city, said the Magen David Adom ambulance service.
The Islamic Jihad group also said it fired several rockets towards Tel Aviv.
On Saturday, Hamas launched its biggest attack on Israel in decades, firing thousands of rockets and sending fighters who infiltrated Israeli towns near Gaza. The group said its attack was in response to Israeli violations in the flashpoint Al Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem and increased settler violence.
At least 700 Israelis have been killed and over 2,300 others wounded in the attack, according to the Israeli Health Ministry.
Israel also attacked, with the Israeli army initiating Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas with a series of airstrikes on Gaza, killing more than 430 Palestinians and wounding at least 2,300 others.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to use all of Israel’s strength to destroy Hamas’ capabilities and “take revenge for this black day.”
