The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has disclosed that 338,000 people had been forced to flee their homes in the Gaza Strip, as heavy Israeli bombardments continued to hit the Palestinian enclave.

The UN humanitarian agency in a statement said “Mass displacement across the Gaza Strip continues”.

As at the last count, the number of displaced people in Gaza had risen by an additional 75,000 people from the figure given 24 hours earlier, reaching 338,934.

The announcement came as Israel pounded Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip – a densely populated enclave of 2.3 million people – in response to the militants’ surprise Saturday attack.