[LISTEN] Gaza pounded by Israel for seven consecutive days

Oxfam media officer Karl Schembri has told MaltaToday that Israeli raids on the Gaza strip are still "pounding" the small enclave, which is the subject of a blockade enforced for years by Israel.

Now in its seventh day, 111 civilians have been killed by the raids.

A media centre was targeted for a second time on Monday when Israeli fighter jets hit the Shuruq tower in Gaza City. The building houses Palestinian and international media outlets, including Britain's Sky News, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya and the official Hamas broadcaster, Al Aqsa TV.

One person was killed in the building, identified by the Islamic Jihad group as Ramez Harb, a senior commander in its armed wing, the al-Quds Brigades.

Eight journalists were injured when the Shuruq tower and another media building, used by local al-Quds TV, were hit.

"This attack came after a relative calm lasting four hours in the afternoon," Schembri told MaltaToday. "At 5pm, it is usually the time that naval attacks start from the warships anchored some 500 metres away from the Gaza coastline."

The Israeli Defence Forces are targeting media centres to disable what it claims are 'Hamas communications equipment' and that it had warned journalists to leave the building.

In other violence on Monday, two boys, aged two and four, and their parents were killed in Jabaliya refugee camp late in the evening. More than a dozen people were injured, mostly women and children.

During the afternoon, one person was killed and another two wounded when a missile struck a car just north of Gaza City. Elsewhere, a missile hit a motorcycle east of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, killing two men and critically wounding a child who was with them, Gaza's ambulance service said.

Earlier in the day, two women and a child were among four killed in a raid on Gaza City's eastern Zeitun neighbourhood.

"There is nowhere to hide and seek shelter for the civilian population of Gaza as it is caught in the crossfire, just as much as the people in Israel living on the perimeter," Schembri said.

Gaza is the subject of a blockade enforced by Israel, which means people cannot exit and enter the country freely. "People cannot go to the other side of the country in Jerusalem in the West Bank," Schembri said. "It's as bad someone from the north of Malta not being able to go to the capital city, or someone in London being unable to go to Oxford, because of an occupation that stops him."

Schembri said the Israeli blockade has crippled the Gaza strip. "Gaza is still building itself up from the rubble of Operation Cast Lead, in which the international community took so long to intervene and stop what was happening."

The Israeli military has struck more than 1,350 targets in Gaza since attacks began on Wednesday, Israel says it launched the operation to deter Palestinian fighters from launching rockets into its territory.

Since then, 640 rockets have hit Israel while more than 300 others have been intercepted by Israel's anti-missile system, the Iron Dome, according to the Israeli army. Three Israeli civilians died on Thursday in a rocket strike.

The Israeli military said that 67 rockets had been fired at the country on Monday, and that three Israelis had been wounded.

Many residents of southern Israel have left the area and schools have been closed since the start of the crisis.