Summary The Palestinian interior ministry said Israeli jets launched 21 strikes after midnight.
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) - Israeli warplanes kept up a punishing campaign of air strikes over Gaza, killing five Palestinians on Saturday.
The Palestinian interior ministry said Israeli jets launched 21 strikes after midnight, destroying three mosques, one in the Zeitoun area, one in Jabaliya in the north and Nuseirat in the middle of the enclave.
At least two of the mosques were considered close to Hamas.
Gaza emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said two men were killed in a strike that "targeted a motorbike in the Al-Maghazi camp" and that the bodies of three other men were pulled from the rubble "of the Al-Qassam mosque" in the Nuseirat camp.
The strike on the site in Nuseirat levelled the huge Al-Qassam mosque, an AFP photographer said, leaving only the minaret standing.
"We heard a loud explosion and it was the beginning of the explosions and a warning to residents to evacuate the area to stay away," said Jood Irhaem, who lives close to one of the mosques.
"Minutes later there were two strong explosions," he said.
The month-long conflict flared again after mediators tried but failed to extend a ceasefire that expired on Friday morning.
The fighting between Israel and Hamas has killed at least 1,898 Palestinians and 67 people on the Israeli side, almost all soldiers, since July 8.
The United Nations says at least 1,354 of the Palestinians killed since July 8 were civilians, including 447 children.
