GAZA, Palestine

A father and his three children were killed in airstrikes by Israeli forces on the Gaza Strip early Friday. 

According to civil defense teams, the Israeli army heavily bombarded the northern part of Gaza, including the town of Beit Lahia, where the bodies of the father and his sons were recovered from the rubble of a building that collapsed.

The teams are continuing their rescue efforts among several buildings that collapsed during the attack.

Israel continues to target Gaza with heavy bombardment, killing 103 Palestinians so far, including 27 children and 11 women, according to health officials. At least 580 others have been injured in addition to heavy damage to residential buildings across the enclave.

To date, seven Israelis have been killed in the recent violence -- six of them in rocket attacks, in addition to a soldier killed when an anti-tank guided missile struck his jeep.

Tensions have been running high in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem over the past month as Israeli settlers swarmed in following a court order for the eviction of Palestinian families in the area.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and annexed the entire city in 1980 -- a move that has never been recognized by the international community.

*Writing by Dilan Pamuk in Ankara