Does this footage show a Gaza neighbourhood being flattened by air strikes in an hour?

The video, which is unverified, apparently captures a strip in the city as it is bombarded with strikes, devastating the surrounding area

Stills from a video purporting to show a Gaza street before and after it is devastated by an airstrike (YouTube )

Disturbing video footage has emerged purporting to show the moment a whole neighbourhood in the embattled Gaza region is flattened by Israeli air strikes in just an hour.

The video, which is unverified, apparently captures a strip in the city as it is bombarded with strikes, devastating the surrounding area.

It was tweeted by BuzzFeed correspondent Sheera Frenkel with the caption: "Time lapse shows entire neighbourhood in Gaza being flattened by air strikes over the course of one hour." It originally appeared on a Saudi Arabian television channel.

The footage begins at 4.02pm GMT by showing a wide shot of a strip of buildings. The time in the corner of the video then changes to 4.05pm, and the buildings begin collapsing amid plumes of thick black smoke.

Strikes are shown continuing at 4.13pm and 4.30GMT. The video closes with a split of the street in two pictures taken from different angles, before and after the damage. The video and the date of the explosions in the footage took place cannot be confirmed.

The footage comes as Israel stepped up its bombardment of Gaza, launching 60 air strikes overnight that health officials say have killed 100 people.

The strikes set Gaza’s only power plant on fire and hit the home of the Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, along with TV and radio stations.

On Monday evening, the Israeli Prime Minister warned of a "prolonged" military campaign that will continue until it is confident Hamas's network of tunnels have been destroyed.