Israeli strikes have killed at least 19 Palestinians, including children at a school in Jabalia, northern Gaza, where displaced people are housed, according to a health ministry official.
The strike also injured dozens, said official Medhat Abbas, who added: “There is no water to put out the fire. There’s nothing.’
Victims were transported on animal-drawn carts, carried or picked up in cars at the site of the bombing to be taken to the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital, where many lay on the floor of the overwhelmed emergency department.
The attack took place at the UN Relief and Works Agency’s (UNRWA) Abu Hussein School, where reports say displaced Palestinians were sheltering in tents.
The Israeli military has claimed that dozens of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists were at the site at the time of the attack.
Images show fires in the camp, set up in a former school in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed in a statement that an air force aircraft had recently carried out an attack based on intelligence.
The report said the attack was carried out in a “targeted and precise manner” on a command and control complex on the site of the former school.
Israeli tanks have also rolled into Jabalia, where Palestinians and UN officials expressed alarm over food and medicine shortages.
Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes killed 11 Palestinians in Gaza City on Thursday, doctors said.
The death toll in Gaza during the years-long war has passed 42,000, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.