Israeli forces are not carpet bombing the Gaza Strip, military spokesman Richard Hecht said.
While acknowledging that the Israeli airstrikes on the Palestinian territory were bigger than ever before, Hecht said all of the sites being hit were targeted and based on intelligence information.
He said the army was getting specific information in each case about where Palestinian militants were hiding.
He said the attacks were focused on destroying the infrastructure of Islamist group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.
For Gaza’s civilians, the situation is increasingly precarious.
According to UN figures, some 339,000 people have fled their homes within the narrow coastal strip.
Last Saturday, Hamas fighters killed more than 1,200 people in Israeli border towns and at a music festival.
Around 150 people were taken prisoner and are being held hostage in the Gaza area.
Israel responded to the massacres with heavy airstrikes.
The territory’s health ministry said Thursday more than 1,200 people have been killed in Gaza and around 5,800 others injured.
dpa/NAN
