About 40 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on residential buildings in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, late on Saturday, health officials say.
Dr. Khalil Al-Daqran, spokesman for Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, said Sunday that in addition to those killed, more than 80 people had been wounded in the strikes on a residential area in Beit Lahiya.
Al Daqran estimated that about 1,000 people had been killed since a new Israeli military operation in northern Gaza began earlier this month.
Dr. Maher Shamiya, a senior official in the Gaza Health Ministry, also said that about 40 people had been killed but that in the absence of ambulance services it was an incomplete toll.
Shamiya said that five homes sheltering displaced people were struck.
Dr Munir Al Bursh, Director General of the Gaza Health Ministry, shared images of the scene Sunday and said a large number of victims remained trapped under the rubble.
Residents have been using their bare hands to look for survivors, Al Bursh said.
With communications disrupted in northern Gaza, CNN cannot confirm the extent of the casualties in the Beit Lahiya strike. CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment.
The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday that in the area of Jabalya, also in northern Gaza, IDF troops “continued operational activity and eliminated over 40 terrorists over the past day.”
The IDF said that “troops dismantled terrorist infrastructure and located large quantities of military equipment.”
In central Gaza, the IDF said, a terrorist cell had been “eliminated” during a close-quarter encounter. Over the past day, the IAF along with the ground troops, struck military structures in the area.