GAZA - The Israeli large-scale offensive which has been going on since July 8 on the Gaza Strip has already killed 1,766 and wounded 9,500 others, the health ministry in Gaza said Sunday.

"During the last 27 days of war on the Gaza Strip, Israel killed so far 1,766 people and wounded 9,500 others, two thirds of them are civilians, including women, children and elderly," said the health ministry in an emailed statement.

Meanwhile, spokesman of the health ministry in Gaza Ashraf al- Qedra told reporters that 54 Palestinians were killed on Sunday since midnight in Israeli air strikes and tanks shelling on various areas in the Gaza Strip.

He added that among the dead Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, ten were killed in an Israeli air strike on a school run by the United Nations for Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) in the southern Gaza town of Rafah.

Al-Qedra said that what happened in the UNRWA school in Rafah " was a real massacre," adding that nine more Palestinians, who belong to the same family, were killed in an air strike on their house in Rafah as well.

He also said that four other family members including a child were killed in another air strike on a house in the town of Rafah, adding that three more people were killed in an air strike on a house in northern Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, paramedics said that six Palestinians were killed in an air strike on a house in central Gaza Strip.

The Gaza-based al-Mizan rights group said in an emailed statement that more than 10,000 houses were damaged by the intensive Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip that has been going on since July 8.

Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman in Gaza said in an emailed press statement that Israel is fully responsible for the air strike on the UNRWA school in Rafah, adding this is the third massacre at UNRWA schools. (Xinhua)