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At least 88 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israel's Gaza offensive, Palestinian officials said, as talk of a possible Israeli ground offensive gathered momentum.

In the deadliest attack since the start of the invasion on Tuesday, eight Palestinian family members, including five children, were killed in an early morning air strike that destroyed at least two homes in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the Palestinian Health ministry said on Thursday. 

Al Jazeera's John Hendren reporting from Gaza, said though there were two sides to the conflict, the results of the violence was lopsided. 

At least 88 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds of others wounded, while there have been no reports of casualties in Israel, besides two injuries.

The clashes and exchange of rocket fire between Hamas and Israeli mlitary has drawn strong reactions from leaders across the globe.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who briefed the Security Council on the crisis on Thursday, condemned the
rocket attacks and urged Israel to show restraint. "Gaza is on a knife edge," he told reporters.

Al Jazeera's James Bays, reporting from the United Nations in New York, said it was unlikely the UN Security Council would release anything more than a "carefully worded statement" on the matter.

Medical officials in Hamas-dominated Gaza said at least 60 civilians, including a four-year-old girl and boy, aged five who
were killed on Thursday, were among the 88 Palestinians killed.

Israel's military made no comment on what would be the deadliest strike since the offensive began on Tuesday.

"We have long days of fighting ahead of us," Moshe Yaalon, Israeli defence minister, said of the offensive which began after a build-up of violence following the killing of three Jewish students last month and the murder of a Palestinian teen in a suspected revenge attack.