At least 20,000 residents of the Gaza Strip were forced to leave their homes due to shelling by Israel, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
"At least 20,000 internally displaced people were sheltering in 44 UNRWA schools, including 28 designated emergency shelters, in all areas in the Gaza Strip, except Khan Younis," the OCHA said in a statement late on Saturday.
In response to the Hamas attack on Saturday, the Israeli military has since sent troops to the southern territories to reconquer them from the Palestinian forces and started conducting strikes at Hamas’ positions in Gaza.
Israeli media reported earlier in the day that over 300 people were killed and 1,864 others were injured in Israel as a result of the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. At the same time, the Palestinian Health Ministry said that more than 256 people have been killed and nearly 1,788 injured in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.