Israeli death toll reaches 1,200

Israel's death toll from a surprise attack by Hamas has reached 1,200 people, "the overwhelming majority" of whom are civilians," Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Cornicus said Wednesday. 

The spokesperson said that more than 2,700 Israelis have been wounded. 

The rising death count was not due to further Hamas attacks, the spokesperson noted, but the growing number of victims the Israeli military is discovering after it retook Israeli towns and villages. 

The spokesperson added that international media had been given access to the Kfar Aza Kibbutz were men, women, children and the elderly had been "dragged out of their shelters and executed at point blank" or killed "after they were trying to flee their houses which Hamas set on fire."

The Israeli military continued to pound Gaza with air strikes, hitting 200 targets in advance of an anticipated invasion of the besieged enclave.  

The strikes have killed 900 Palestinians, including 260 children and 230 women, according to Palestinian authorities.