Israeli airstrikes destroyed a 14-story residential building in Gaza City amid ongoing tensions with Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Saturday.

Several other buildings were also targeted by the Israeli warplanes across the blockaded strip including residential buildings and public facilities.

Iyad al-Bozom, spokesman of the Gaza-based Interior Ministry, said Israeli warplanes carried out hundreds of airstrikes on different targets across Gaza.

According to Hamas, its surprise attack was in response to the desecration of Al-Aqsa Mosque and increased settler violence. It said it fired rockets and captured many Israelis.

In response, the Israeli army initiated a "large-scale operation to defend Israeli civilians against the combined attack."

Israel has faced criticism from rights groups over the civilian casualties in its bombardments in Gaza.

At least 198 Palestinians have so far been killed, while Israeli sources put their death toll at 150.

The blockaded Gaza Strip has the highest tragic human development figures in the world.

Since 2007, the Gaza Strip has been under a crippling Israeli and Egyptian blockade that has gutted its economy and deprived its roughly 2 million inhabitants of many vital commodities, including food, fuel and medicine. In the long-embargoed enclave, the humanitarian situation has grown worse by the day.