Death toll moves upwards as Israel continues to bomb Gaza

Israel continued with airstrikes in Gaza on Wednesday.

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The Israeli military said its forces have resumed ground operations in the central and southern Gaza Strip.

On Wednesday, Gaza’s civil defence agency said 13 people had been killed in new Israeli strikes on the territory since midnight.

Gaza's civil defence agency said on Wednesday that at least 436 people had been killed since Israel resumed intense strikes on the Palestinian territory.

"The Civil Defence has transported at least 436 martyrs since the resumption of the occupation’s (Israel's) aggression and war since dawn yesterday," spokesman Mahmud Bassal told reporters, with the figures confirmed by Zaher Al Wahidi, director of the information department at the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

A Hamas spokesman, Abdel-Latif Al Qanou, said the advance of ground forces in Gaza was a clear sign that Israel had backed out of the truce and was reimposing a “blockade.”

There have been no reports of rocket attacks by Hamas since Tuesday's bombardment.

Also Wednesday, the United Nations said one of its employees was killed in Gaza and five others were wounded in an apparent strike on a guesthouse.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the strike, the UN said.

Jorge Moreira da Silva, head of the UN Office for Project Services. said strikes had hit near the compound on Monday and struck it directly on Tuesday and again on Wednesday.