Gaza death toll rises to 687 as Israeli strikes hit homes

The death toll in the Gaza Strip rose to 687 Monday, the health ministry in the Palestinian enclave said, as Israel pounded Hamas targets for the third consecutive day.
The Hamas-controlled ministry said hospitals in Gaza had "received 687 martyrs and another 3,727 injured" since Israel unleashed a wave of air strikes after a surprise attack on Israel launched by the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas on Saturday morning.
Palestinians in Gaza are preparing for an Israeli offensive of unprecedented scale, with more than 130,000 fleeing their homes and stockpiling supplies.
Amid an intensified Israeli siege cutting off water, food and power, conditions look worse than at any point since Palestinian refugees flocked there during the 1948 fighting when Israel was founded.
Israeli military phone messages have warned people to leave some areas, indicating a new ground attack that could eclipse previous bouts of destructive warfare in the dense concrete townships that grew up in Gaza's original tented refugee camps.
"Where should we go? Where should we go?" asked 55-year-old Mohammad Brais.
The surprise Hamas attack on Saturday caused Israel its bloodiest day, as fighters smashed through border defences and marauded through towns, killing more than 800 people and dragging more than 100 into captivity in Gaza.
Lebanese armed group Hezbollah fired a salvo of rockets onto northern Israel yesterday in response to at least four of its members killed in Israeli shelling on Lebanon.
The exchange of fire marks a significant expansion of the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants to the Israeli-Lebanese border further north.
The Israeli military said it had called up an unprecedented 300,000 reservists and was imposing a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, in a sign it may be planning a ground assault.
Inside Israel, Palestinian fighters were still holed up in several locations, two days after they killed hundreds of Israelis and seized dozens of hostages in a raid that shattered Israel's reputation of invincibility.
Israeli TV channels said the death toll from the Hamas attack had climbed to 900.
Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida said the group had been acting in accordance with Islam by keeping the Israeli captives safe.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Israel against "indiscriminately" attacking civilians in its war with Hamas militants in Gaza.
Erdogan urged both sides to respect the "ethics" of war. He has fervently backed the Palestinian cause and supported a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.