The death toll of the Israeli assault on Gaza rises to 60 people on Saturday, marking it the deadliest day of fighting in the coastal region.
Palestinian IMEMC news website quoted head of Gaza’s emergency services, Dr Muawiya Hassanein as saying that there were at least 26 civilians among those killed.
The dead included 5 children, the youngest of whom was just 2 days old, he added.
More than 150 people have also been injured the majority whom are civilians.
At least 16 of those killed were resistance fighters, including 13 from the Islamic Hamas movement and three from the Islamic Jihad.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, 92 Palestinians, including 19 children, have been killed in Gaza since the beginning of the Israeli attacks on Sunday.
Despite high civilian casualty, Israel says the incursion is aimed at destroying the Hamas infrastructure.
Two Israeli soldiers were also killed and another seven wounded during clashes with Palestinian resistance fighters, the Israeli army said.
Meanwhile, Hamas political leader Khalid Mashaal on Saturday condemned Israel’s air and overland raids describing it ‘a real holocaust’.
He said that Israel is ‘using the Holocaust’ to justify its atrocities against the Palestinians.
“Israel is using the Holocaust as a cover to do what it wants,” Mashaal said.