The death toll from escalating violence in Gaza had risen to 24 on Sunday, including six children, as Israel extended its bombardment of Palestinian militants who have retaliated with a barrage of rockets.
The updated count from health authorities in the Hamas-run territory said six children were among those killed since the start of the "Israeli aggression" on Friday, in addition to 204 people injured.
But Israel said it had "irrefutable" evidence that a stray rocket from Islamic Jihad militants had been responsible for the death of multiple children in Jabalia, northern Gaza, on Saturday.
It was not immediately clear how many children were killed in the incident in Jabalia. An AFP photographer saw six dead bodies at an area hospital, including three minors.
Israel's military has warned its aerial and artillery campaign against Islamic Jihad could last a week, but Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Cairo is talking "around the clock" with both sides to ease the violence.
Israel has said it was necessary to launch a "pre-emptive" operation against Islamic Jihad, as the group was planning an imminent attack following days of tensions along the border with Gaza.
Civilians meanwhile took refuge in air raid shelters on the Israeli side, with AFP journalists hearing sirens warning of incoming fire in the Tel Aviv area on Saturday evening.
In Rafah, on Gaza's border with Egypt, women and children were trapped under rubble following an Israeli strike, the strip's civil defense unit said.
Rescue workers were digging through the site where a top Islamic Jihad commander, Khaled Mansour, was reportedly targeted by an Israeli strike on Saturday.
There was no specific confirmation of Mansour's death, but the head of the Israeli army's operations directorate, Oded Basiok, said in a statement that the entire "senior leadership of the military wing of the Islamic Jihad in Gaza has been neutralized".
Daily life in the strip has come to a standstill, while the electricity distributor said the sole power station shut down due to a lack of fuel after Israel closed its border crossings.
Gaza's health ministry said the next few hours will be "crucial and difficult", warning it risked suspending vital services within 72 hours as a result of the lack of electricity.
