Describing the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories as “nasty,” Al-Qassam further emphasized in a Sunday press release that "no lives are more worthy than those of our people."

"The occupation forces ran away with their soldiers from the real battlefield with Al-Qassam and the [other] resistance factions, [instead] choosing to launch aerial and artillery offensives against [Palestinian] civilians," said the press statement as quoted by the Palestinian Press Agency (SAFA).

"We tried as much as possible to focus on targeting Israeli military personnel, sites, airports and camps, but the enemy chose to cover its failures by attacking innocent civilian in their gathering centers and homes," added the statement.

More than 1,800 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and another 9,400 wounded since the start of the Israeli offensive on July 8.

This is while the figures released by the UN humanitarian agency OCHA on August 2 reported that a total of 1,525 Palestinians were killed during the Israeli onslaught.

Of the 1,196 killed whose identities could be verified, 1,033 were civilians, nearly 84 percent, OCHA said. The number includes 329 children and 187 women.

Of the Palestinians killed, 191 were members of armed groups. On the other side, 66 Israelis have been killed, including 64 soldiers, all of whom have died since the ground offensive began.

According to Israeli army figures, Palestinian resistance fighter have fired 3,160 rockets towards the Israeli occupied territories since July 8, of which 2,483 have struck Israeli targets while only 559 were intercepted by its US-built Iron Dome anti-missile system.

The Zionist regime boasts that it has struck 4,626 targets across the Gaza Strip in the 27-day operation.

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