Israeli airstrike on a residential building in a refugee camp has killed at least 45 people and wounded dozens of others, said Gaza’s interior ministry.
The ministry spokesperson Eyad Bozum said Israeli military on Thursday bombarded the centre of the densely-populated Jabalia camp.
The building was packed with dozens of people who had fled heavy bombing from other parts of the Gaza Strip and taken refuge there.
Bozum said the death toll was likely to rise because civil defence workers were still pulling bodies from the rubble and counting the dead.
The Anadolu Agency said the victims included members from two families, identified as Shihab and Abu Hemdan.
“Medics transferred the bodies of 44 Palestinians to morgues after the Israeli attacks,” a source told Anadolu, adding that children and elders were among those killed.
Israeli forces on Saturday launched a sustained military campaign against the Gaza Strip in response to an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas inside the Israeli territory. At least 100 people were also taken hostage by Hamas during its assault.
Hamas said the unprecedented attack was in retaliation for the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem and Israeli settlers’ growing violence against the Palestinians.
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
