Two Israeli air strikes on buildings in Gaza City have killed at least 38 people and injured many more, Hamas has said.
The Israeli military said warplanes had struck Hamas military infrastructure sites and it would provide more details later.
A spokesman for Gaza’s civil defence said a residential block in the al-Shati area, one of Gaza’s historic refugee camps, was hit several times.
The other strike targeted houses in the al-Tuffah district, the Hamas-run government media office said.
Footage showed people carrying away the wounded and searching for survivors in the wreckage as dust filled the streets.
Earlier reports put the estimated death toll at 42.
Israeli media reported that the air strikes may have been targeting a senior Hamas official.
Hussein Muhaisen, a civil defence spokesman in Gaza City, told AFP that the impact of the strikes was “like an earthquake”.
“IDF targeted the whole area, as you see they destroyed homes. There are still families under the rubble,” Muhaisen said.
“We transferred some of the injured to the Baptist Hospital. Now, we are rescuing others from under the rubble.
“The situation is difficult due to lack of tools and fuel for ambulances.”
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Meanwhile, the EU’s Foreign Policy chief, Josep Borrell, said the EU condemned Friday’s shelling of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) offices in Gaza.
The ICRC said the shelling killed 22 people who had sought shelter around its compound.
Borrell called for an independent investigation to hold those responsible for the strikes accountable.
On Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said an initial inquiry into the shooting in the al-Mawasi area of southern Gaza.
It added the inquiry found there was “no direct attack carried out by the IDF against a Red Cross facility”.
It said it would “quickly examine” the incident and the findings presented.
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7.
More than 37,551 people have died in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health ministry.
Its figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
However, it had reportedly identified 14,680 children, women and elderly people among the dead by the end of April. (BBC)
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