Tel Aviv/Gaza  - Israel continued its offensive in the Gaza Strip Saturday, pounding over 40 targets overnight, a military spokesman said.

The airstrikes, which came on top of 70 such attacks on Friday, largely targeted smuggling tunnels and weapon manufacturing shops.

Israeli soldiers on the ground said they killed 15 armed men, the spokesman added.

Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip have said the death toll has surpassed 800, with over 3,300 people injured. This was the 15th day of fighting.

Five Israeli soldiers were lightly injured in overnight fighting. Troops remains in the Gaza Strip, but for the most part have not entered the most crowded urban areas.

Palestinian militants fired one mortar and three homemade rockets at southern Israel since midnight.

Nine Israeli soldiers and three civilians were killed since Israel launched Operation Cast Lead on December 27, in what was said to be a campaign to curtail Palestinian rocket fire.

The Israeli offensive continued after the security cabinet decided on Friday to carry on, despite a United Nations' Security Council resolution which called for an immediate ceasefire.

"Israel has a right to protect its citizens," a statement from the cabinet said, adding that the military would "continue to change the security situation in the south," parlance for attacking militant targets and sources of rocket fire and conducting activities to curtail arms smuggling.

Caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel "has never agreed that any outside body would determine its right to defend the security of its citizens."

Israel also maintains an option, analysts said, to go to "phase three," which would mean sending more ground troops deeper into populated areas.

The military could not say whether there would be a three-hour "humanitarian lull" on Saturday, to allow Palestinians to stock up on food and let medics and patients move freely.

Three such lulls have taken place so far since Wednesday, though Friday's was marred with violence that would not let up, even during the allotted time.

The largest UN aid agencies are also expected to resume activities "as soon as possible" after they reached an understanding with the Israeli security forces. Four staff of UNRWA, the agency for Palestinian refugees, have been killed in the fighting.

The UN said it received security assurances from the Israelis and they would closely monitor their commitment to the safety of the aid workers. (dpa)