GAZA CITY
Israeli warplanes launched a series of airstrikes against government buildings, a mosque and farmlands across the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Monday.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that Israeli aircraft bombed Al-Nour mosque in the central Gaza Strip city of Deir el-Balah, razing it to the ground and damaging nearby houses.
Israeli war jets also flattened a government building in western Gaza City, wounding five Palestinians.
They also completely destroyed a house in southern Gaza City, injuring two Palestinians.
Israeli aircraft, meanwhile, fired at Palestinian farmlands in the southern Gaza Strip cities of Rafah and Khan Yunis.
At least 172 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since late Monday.
Some 1183 people have also been wounded in the Israeli aerial attacks.
Since then, Israeli warplanes have staged hundreds of airstrikes on the besieged enclave – home to around 1.8 million Palestinians - while ground troops remain amassed on the borders in advance of a possible ground assault.
Gaza-based resistance factions, for their part, have continued to fire hundreds of rockets into Israel, some of which have reached Tel Aviv, in response to the ongoing offensive.
No Israeli fatalities have been reported thus far.
Israeli airstrikes flattened 560 Gaza house: Minister
The Palestinian Health Ministry has accused Israel of using the Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME) in striking the Gaza Strip.
"Medical teams have registered injuries consistent with those caused by DIME and other banned weapons," health undersecretary Youssef Abul Resh told a press conference in Gaza City's Shifa medical complex Sunday.
"Israel has mercilessly targeted Palestinian civilians leaving many of them with life-threatening injuries and future handicaps," he said.
Israeli authorities were not immediately available to comment on the accusation.
Renounced Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert has also accused the Israeli army of using internationally banned weapons in its ongoing offensive against the Gaza Strip.
He told a press conference in Gaza City that examinations of the bodies of the victims had shown that they had been subjected to internationally banned weapons.
Gilbert added that these weapons cause major damage to the bodies, especially the limbs.
Israel has launched a military offensive – dubbed "Operation Protective Edge" – against the Gaza Strip with the stated aim of ending rocket fire from the enclave.
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