<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">More than 338,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations said, as heavy Israeli bombardments continue to hit the Palestinian enclave.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Mass displacement across the Gaza Strip continues," the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in a statement sent on Thursday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">By late Wednesday, 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, it said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Israeli forces said 1,200 people, most of them civilians, were killed in the onslaught -- the worst in the country's history.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In Gaza, officials reported more than 1,000 people have been killed in Israel's sustained campaign of air and artillery strikes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">OCHA said nearly 220,000 people, or two-thirds of the displaced people, have sought shelter in schools run by the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another nearly 15,000 people fled to schools run by the Palestinian Authority, while more than 100,000 were being sheltered by relatives, neighbours and a church and other facilities in Gaza City.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">OCHA said that around 3,000 people had already been displaced within the enclave prior to Saturday's attack.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The bombing campaign has destroyed or rendered uninhabitable at least 2,540 housing units in Gaza, OCHA said, citing numbers from the Gaza Ministry of Public Works and Housing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another 22,850 housing units sustained moderate to minor damage, it said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The UN agency also voiced alarm at the significant destruction of civilian infrastructure damaged in the shelling.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Among other things, it said sewage facilities serving more than a million people had been hit by air strikes, leaving solid waste accumulating in the streets, posing a health threat. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>