Israeli air strikes hammered the Gaza Strip Monday, after a week of violence between the Jewish state and Palestinians left more than 200 people dead as international calls for de-escalation went unheeded.
Overnight Sunday to Monday, Israel launched dozens of strikes in the space of a few minutes across the crowded coastal Palestinian enclave controlled by Hamas, according to AFP journalists and the army.
Flames lit up the sky as explosions shook Gaza city.
The strikes caused widespread power cuts and damaged hundreds of buildings, local authorities said. No casualties were immediately reported.
West Gaza resident Mad Abed Rabbo, 39, expressed "horror and fear" at the intensity of the onslaught.
"There have never been strikes of this magnitude," he said.
Israel's army said in a statement that it hit the homes of nine "high-ranking" Hamas commanders, without providing details on casualties.
The overnight bombardment also included a third round of strikes on what the army calls the "Metro," its term for a Hamas underground tunnel network.
Fifty-four fighter jets pounded 15 kilometres (nine miles) of tunnels, which the army has previously acknowledged runs in part through civilian areas.
Gazan Mani Qazaat said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "should realise we're civilians, not fighters", adding "I felt like I was dying".
The renewed strikes come a day after 42 Palestinians in Gaza -- including at least eight children and two doctors, according to the health ministry -- were killed in the worst daily death toll in the enclave since the bombardments began.
In total, 197 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including at least 58 children, and more than 1,200 wounded since Israel launched its air campaign against Hamas on May 10 after the group fired rockets. The heaviest exchange of fire in years was sparked by unrest in Jerusalem.
In Israel, 10 people, including one child, have been killed and 294 wounded by rocket fire launched by armed groups in Gaza.
Israel's army said about 3,100 rockets had been fired since last Monday from Gaza -- the highest rate ever recorded -- but added its Iron Dome anti-missile system had intercepted over 1,000.
Netanyahu said in a televised address Sunday that Israel's "campaign against the terrorist organisations is continuing with full force" and would "take time" to finish.
