Egypt's health minister says that local hospitals have received nearly a dozen cases of wounded Palestinians, amid a three-day Israeli offensive that has left over 80 people killed and hundreds injured, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

Adel El-Adawi said that ambulances have transferred 11 wounded Palestinians from the neighbouring Gaza Strip to Egypt and that the patients have been admitted into hospitals.

Earlier on Thursday Egypt opened its Rafah border crossing, the only non-Israeli portal to the outer world, to allow in wounded Palestinians seeking treatment.

The move comes on the back of intensifying violence in the coastal strip where Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 80 Palestinians since Operation Protective Edge began Tuesday, more than 50 of them civilians, Gaza medical officials said.

El-Adawy said 30 medically equipped vehicles are based at the Rafah crossing to receive cases and transfer them to hospitals in and outside North Sinai. He said a medical team of 17 doctors has also been sent as reinforcement to the nearby hospital of Al-Arish city.