At least 93 Palestinians were killed and missing and dozens wounded in an Israeli strike on a residential building in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya on Tuesday, the Gaza health ministry said.
Medics said at least 20 children were among the dead.
“A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them,” the territory’s health ministry said in a statement.
Later on Tuesday, Ismail Al-Thawabta, the director of the government media office, put the number of fatalities at 93.
There was no immediate Israeli comment. The Israeli military has frequently questioned figures on death toll published by the Hamas media office, saying they were often exaggerated.
Video footage obtained by Reuters showed several bodies wrapped in blankets on the ground outside a bombed four-storey building. More bodies and survivors were being retrieved from under the wreckage as neighbours rushed to help with rescue.
“There are tens of martyrs (dead) – tens of displaced people were living in this house. The house was bombed without prior warning. As you can see, martyrs are here and there, with body parts hanging on the walls,” Ismail Ouaida, a witness who was helping to recover bodies, said in the video.