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GAZA CITY (AFP) -- Israeli airstrikes on the southern and central Gaza Strip killed 14 people on Thursday including seven women and children, medics said, on the third day of a widening military operation.

The first strike hit a coffee shop in the city of Khan Younis, emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said, adding that six men were killed and at least 15 other people wounded.

The second, in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, on the home of Raed Shalat, killed him and wounded several others, Qidra said.

Further strikes on two houses in Khan Younis killed seven people - three women and four children, he said.

Dozens of strikes were heard slamming into the besieged Palestinian territory in the early hours of Thursday, as Israel's "Operation Protective Edge", the largest military campaign against Gaza since 2012, entered day three.

On Wednesday, at least 29 Palestinians were killed, and Tuesday's toll stood at at least 21, bringing the total number of dead to at least 64.

The dead include at least 10 women and 18 children, according to a count based on medical reports.

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