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Israel says it struck more than 500 targets in the Gaza Strip, while fierce battles with Hamas fighters continue in several areas in southern Israel.

The intense bombardment has so far displaced more than 120,000 people in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

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Gaza, home to two million Palestinians, is a small, self-governing Palestinian territory that came under Israeli occupation along with the West Bank and East Jerusalem after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.

Bordered by Israel and Egypt on the Mediterranean coast, the Gaza Strip is about 365sq km (140sq miles), about the size of Cape Town, Detroit or Lucknow.

Gaza was part of historic Palestine before the state of Israel was created in 1948 in a violent process of ethnic cleansing, in which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled from their homes.

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The number of people killed by Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip has gone up to 493, health officials say. More than 2,750 are also injured.

Iran calls for OIC meeting

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman says the country is calling for an emergency meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) over the regional developments.

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A fourth mosque was destroyed in an overnight Israeli air strike on the el-Yarmouk neighbourhood in Gaza, also forcing thousands more people to evacuate their homes, Al Jazeera’s correspondent Youmna el Sayed reported.

As of Monday morning, the number of people seeking shelter at a UN facility for IDPs in Gaza has already reached 100,000.

“Dozens of homes were completely destroyed and are inhabitable,” el Sayed said, adding that residents reported the smell of white phosphorus, which was previously used by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza – a weapon prohibited by international humanitarian law.

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She also personally reported itching in her throat, chest and eyes as soon as she entered the area.

Al Jazeera