The death toll among Palestinians from the Israeli offensive in the coastal strip has reached 501, health officials said, as the two sides count their dead following the bloodiest day of fighting so far in the two-week campaign.

Ashraf al-Kidra, a Gaza health ministry official, said rescue workers near the city of Khan Younis were digging out bodies from a home flattened in an Israeli air strike early today.

He said 20 bodies were found at the site and two people were pulled alive from the rubble overnight.

Following an emergency session late yesterday, the UN Security Council expressed "serious concern" about Gaza's rising civilian death toll and demanded an immediate end to the fighting.

Twenty Israelis also have died, including 13 soldiers killed in heavy fighting yesterday.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.