MULTIPLE deaths and injuries have been reported at the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza after an explosion.
The Hamas-run health ministry, and the director of the nearby Indonesian hospital, say at least 50 people have been killed.
Israel said the strike destroyed a Hamas command centre set up in civilian houses and a network of tunnels underneath.
The toll from the strikes in the Jabaliya camp was not immediately known. The Israeli military said a large number of Hamas militants were killed, including the commander overseeing their operations in northern Gaza.
The director of the nearby hospital where casualties were taken, Dr Atef Al-Kahlot, said hundreds were wounded or killed, but he did not provide exact figures.
Neither side’s account could be independently confirmed.
It comes as Israel announced it was expanding ground operations in Gaza.
First Minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf reacted on Twitter/X, writing: "I am sorry to those innocent men, women and children in Jabalia Refugee Camp that the world could not protect you. This blatant disregard for human life must be condemned unequivocally. Do not let any more children die.
"We need an immediate ceasefire, nothing less."
The BBC reported that tanks and armoured vehicles are moving towards Gaza City, where Hamas is based. Jabalia lies in northern Gaza, an area where Israel has told people to leave for their safety.
It is the largest of Gaza's eight refugee camps, with more than 116,000 Palestinian refugees registered there by the UN as of July 2023 and has 26 schools in 16 school buildings, a food distribution centre, two health centres, a library and seven water wells.
The Hamas-run interior ministry said at least six air strikes destroyed a number of apartment blocks in a residential area of the camp, leaving craters where they once stood.
Journalists working for the French news agency AFP who were on the scene at Jabalia said video footage from the scene shows at least 47 bodies recovered from the rubble.
Images emerging from the camp show large areas levelled and bodies being carried away.
The health ministry, also Hamas-run, said more than 8500 people have been killed since Israel started bombing Gaza, following an attack from Hamas on October 7 which killed 1400 people.
