Thousands of Palestinians are fleeing parts of northern Gaza after Israel warned it was targeting the area in its campaign to stop rocket attacks.
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Palestinian officials say 172 people in Gaza have been killed since the offensive began on 10 July. The dead are said to include 17 members of one extended family who died in an Israeli missile strike at the weekend.
Israel says nearly 1000 rockets have been fired from Gaza in that time. It said it shot down a Palestinian drone near Ashdod on Monday morning, the BBC reports.
Israel says it is targeting Hamas fighters and "terror sites", including the homes of senior operatives. However, the UN estimates that 77% of the people killed in Gaza have been civilians.
The Israeli military said a mortar shell or rocket fired from Syria hit the Israeli-occupied sector of the Golan Heights and a rocket fired from Gaza hit electricity infrastructure in Israel that supplied power to Gaza, cutting power to about 70,000 people.
On Sunday, Israel destroyed the territory's security headquarters and several police stations. The three-storey home of the head of the Hamas police force was destroyed, critically wounding him and killing 17 members of his extended family - including three children.
The morgue in Shiva hospital is full and hospitals are struggling to cope with hundreds of injured amid a shortage of medical supplies.
No Israelis have been killed by the many Hamas long-range missiles fired into Israel.
Israel said it sent ground forces into Gaza for the first time at the weekend in a raid on a rocket-launching site.
Four soldiers were "lightly injured" in a successful raid on the site, the Israel Defence Forces said on its Twitter feed.
Israel says it was hit by about 90 rockets fired from Gaza on Saturday and also reported intercepting three rockets fired at Tel Aviv from the coastal territory by Hamas Islamist militants.
Smoke billowing from buildings in Gaza City after an Israeli airstrike. Photo: AFP
UN calls for ceasefire
The UN Security Council has called for a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
All 15 members the UN Security Council approved a statement calling for calm and peace talks.
It is the first time since Israel's offensive began that they have issued a statement, with members previously divided on their response, the BBC reports.
Israel has vowed to press on with its campaign until rocket attacks stop. Five Israelis have been injured by rocket and missile attacks, two of them seriously, but no Israelis have died.
