The 24-hour death toll was the worst in a week and added to the massive fatalities from the nearly two-year war that has shattered the enclave housing more than 2 million Palestinians.

Israel’s military yesterday pounded Gaza City prior to a planned takeover, with another 123 people killed in the past day, the Gaza health ministry said, while militant group Hamas held further talks with Egyptian mediators.

Gaza City has come under intense air attack, the territory's Hamas-run civil defence agency has said, as Israeli forces prepare to occupy the city. Mahmud Bassal, a spokesman, said the residential areas of Zeitoun and Sabra had for three days been hit by bombs and drone strikes that "cause massive destruction to civilian homes",