Fresh airstrikes have been launched on Gaza by Israel after 271 people were killed during a bloody 24-hour period in the Middle East.

The UN Security Council has called for an immediate halt to all violence in the region but Israel has warned operations will continue until rocket attacks from Gaza cease.

Around 700 people were wounded on Saturday when Israeli warplanes mounted about 100 strikes which destroyed all of Hamas’s security compounds.

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Hamas estimated at least 180 members of its security forces had been killed, including police chief Tawfiq Jabber, along with at least 15 women and some children.

Palestinian militants fired some 70 rockets in retaliation, killing an Israeli.

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The death toll is the highest for a single day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 1948, when the Jewish state was established.

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