Thousands of residents in besieged enclave of Gaza are fleeing for life amid intense bombardment by the Israeli war planes for the third day running, reports said on Monday.
Scores of residential and commercial buildings have been reduced to rubble and tens of thousands of civilians have taken shelter in UN run schools and underground bunkers.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said that around 74,000 Palestinians have sought refuge in 64 schools and shelters operated by the agency in the Gaza Strip since Saturday.
The UN further stated Monday that significant damage has been inflicted on one of its schools that was providing shelter to displaced families in Gaza, following a direct bombing.
Earlier, Gaza’s Health Ministry said that over 436 deaths have been reported including 91 children and 61 women, along with 2,271 injuries, including 244 children and 151 women.
Notably, the Israeli Forces earlier declared targeting over 500 strategic sites in the Gaza Strip between Sunday night and Monday morning.
Israeli air attacks and shelling aimed at houses and apartment buildings have displaced nearly two hundred thousand Palestinians in Gaza, UNWRA says, after latest upsurge in violence that began after Palestinian fighters stormed into Israel before dawn on Saturday in a series of devastating attacks on southern Israeli occupied towns.
Retaliation was swift from Israeli forces, who launched air raids on the impoverished and densely-populated Gaza Strip, where 2.3 million people live crammed into a small piece of land.
