World Bulletin/News Desk

Turkish agencies have rushed aid to the Palestines worth a total of $2.5 million as Gaza continues to be hit by Israeli airstrikes.

The Turkish Disaster Management Agency (AFAD) has sent a total of $1.5 million to the World Health Organization's Palestine Office, according to a statement by the Foreign Ministry on Saturday.

The office will use the money to support people in Gaza with aid and medicine.

The Turkish Cooperation Agency (TIKA) has also begun providing support services worth $1 million, the statement added.

The Turkish Red Crescent has already sent food packages to 500 families in Palestine and will send another delivery to 1,500 others.

Massed troops

The Turkish government has declared another $1 million will be sent to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency to be used for people in Palestine as well.

A total of 160 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's bombardment of the territory, according to Palestinian health workers.

Nine Israelis have been injured by rocket fire from Gaza since Tuesday, Israeli officials said. There have been no Israeli fatalities.

Israel has continued to pound the territory with airstrikes, while ground troops remain massed on the Gaza Strip's borders in advance of a possible ground assault.

Gaza-based resistance factions, meanwhile, have continued to fire rockets into Israel in response to the unrelenting airstrikes.

They have fired more than 600 rockets since Monday, according to security sources.