Gaza: The death toll from five days of ferocious fighting beween Hamas and Israel rose sharply overnight as Israel kept up its bombardment of Gaza Wednesday after recovering the dead from the last communities near the border where Palestinian militants had been holed up.
In Israel, the death toll from Saturday's shock cross-border assault by Hamas militants rose to 1,200, making it the deadliest attack in the country's 75-year history, while Gaza officials reported more than 900 people killed as Israel pounded the territory with air strikes.
Hamas said two of its top officials had been killed, while Israel's military said the bodies of roughly 1,500 Hamas infiltrators had been found.
Israeli fighters jets struck the Islamic University in Gaza City on Wednesday, an AFP correspondent and an official with the Hamas-linked institution said.
"The intense air strikes destroyed completely some buildings of the Islamic University," Ahmed Orabi of the university management told AFP.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Israel's military response to Saturday's attack is only the start of a sustained war to destroy the Islamist group and "change the Middle East".
Fears of a regional conflagration have surged ahead of an expected Israeli ground incursion into Gaza. At least 30 people were killed and hundreds wounded as Israel pounded the Gaza Strip with hundreds of air strikes overnight, a Hamas government official said Wednesday.
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The Israeli military confirmed it had hit dozens of Hamas targets during the night.It said fighter jets destroyed "advanced detection systems" that Hamas used to spot military aircraft.
They also hit 80 Hamas targets in the Beit Hanoun area of the northeastern Gaza Strip, including two bank branches used by the Islamist group to "fund terrorism" in the enclave, the military said.
More than 260,000 people displaced in Gaza: UN
Over 260,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in the Gaza Strip, as heavy Israeli bombardments from the air, land and sea continue to hit the Palestinian enclave, the United Nations said.
"Over 263,934 people in Gaza are believed to have fled their homes," said UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in an update Tuesday, warning that "this number is expected to rise further". It said that around 3,000 people had been displaced "due to previous escalations", prior to Saturday.
More than 1,000 people have been killed in Israel in the worst attack in the country's 75-year history, while Gaza officials have reported 900 people killed since the air strikes began.
The bombing campaign has destroyed more than 1,000 housing units, and 560 have been so severely damaged they are uninhabitable, OCHA said, citing Palestinian authorities.
Among the displaced, nearly 175,500 people sought shelter in 88 schools run by the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, it said.
More than 14,500 others had fled to 12 government schools, while close to 74,000 were estimated to be staying with relatives and neighbours or seeking shelters in churches and other facilities.
The number of displaced people inside of Gaza "represents the highest number of people displaced since the 50-day escalation of hostilities in 2014," it said.
"Meeting basic needs is becoming increasingly challenging for those who have not been displaced," OCHA warned.
Countries evacuate citizens
Thousands of foreigners find themselves stuck in Israel and across the Palestinian territories, where a full-blown war has erupted since Hamas launched its surprise attack on Saturday.With the violence having already killed thousands on both sides, several countries have launched operations to repatriate their citizens, while others plan to do so in the coming days.
Argentina, the Latin American country with the largest Jewish population, on Tuesday started evacuating more than 1,200 of its citizens from Israel.Three air force flights a day will take the 1,246 Argentines who have asked to be evacuated to the Italian capital Rome, Defence Minister Jorge Taiana said.
Brazil's government plans to mobilise at least six planes in a bid to rapidly repatriate any of its citizens who wish to leave Israel and the Palestinian territories.It said that about 14,000 Brazilians live in Israel and 6,000 live in the Palestinian territories.
Nigeria has airlifted more than 300 of its citizens back home after they fled to Jordan from Israel, where they were on a Christian pilgrimage, the Lagos state government said.
Switzerland's foreign ministry announced Monday evening that Swiss International Air Lines would send a special flight to Tel Aviv on Tuesday to repatriate the country's nationals.
Around 28,000 Swiss citizens and their families are officially registered as living in Israel and the Palestinian territories, the ministry said. Spain, South Korea, Canada and France also started operations to repatriate citizens from the war-hit Israel.
