Dozens of people were injured in the attack on Bureij in Magazi, the only remaining hospital in the region overflowing with patients, health officials said.
Palestinian health authorities say at least 15 people have been killed in Israeli ground and air strikes on the Bureij and Maghazi refugee camps in central Gaza.
A Health Ministry spokesman told reporters outside the hospital in Deir el Bala, central Gaza, that more than 15 martyrs and dozens of wounded had arrived at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the past few hours.
The death toll is expected to rise quickly if the “attacks” on central Gaza do not stop, he said.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital is currently the only health facility serving more than a million people in the region, the spokesperson said.
He added that hospitals do not have the capacity to accommodate more patients and that they are already “overflowing with injured people”, many of whom are being treated on the floor.
An attack on another house in the nearby Magazi refugee camp left two people dead, according to officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital.
Earlier, the Israeli military said in a statement that its jets were striking Hamas targets in central Gaza while ground forces were conducting intensive operations under intelligence guidance in the al-Burei area.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el Bala, said hospital staff were overwhelmed by the influx of casualties.
“Doctors are running far and wide to find leftover medical supplies, including antiseptics and anesthetics, to perform emergency, life-saving surgeries,” Mahmoud said.
“Continued attacks and machine gun fire can still be heard in eastern areas of central Gaza, including the densely populated camps of Magazi and Burei,” he added.
“We are learning from the victims’ relatives that whole families are still trapped inside the camp’s bombed-out homes.”
Is the ceasefire proposal faltering?
Israeli forces waged a weeks-long offensive earlier this year on Bureij and several nearby refugee camps in central Gaza.
Troops withdrew from the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza on Friday after weeks of fighting left widespread destruction in the already devastated region. Emergency workers recovered the bodies of 360 people, mostly women and children, a Gaza Civil Defense spokesman said.
Israel’s airstrikes and ground offensive in Gaza come as international mediators wait for Israel and Hamas to respond to proposals for a new ceasefire and prisoner exchange.
Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official, said on Tuesday he would not accept a deal with Israel that did not clearly stipulate a permanent ceasefire and complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
“Israel’s response speaks of opening the door to negotiations on everything with no end or deadline. This confirms that Israel wants only one step: to take prisoners and then resume aggression and war against our people,” Hamdan said.
“Unless there is a clear position that the Zionist occupation forces are preparing for a permanent ceasefire and complete withdrawal from Gaza… we cannot agree to a deal that neither guarantees nor guarantees a permanent ceasefire, complete withdrawal, or subsequent prisoner exchange. doesn’t exist. ,” he added.
U.S. President Joe Biden, who announced the plan last week, said the three-phase plan was proposed by Israel, but Israeli leaders have since appeared to distance themselves from the proposal and vowed to keep fighting until Hamas is destroyed.
According to the Health Ministry, more than 36,000 Palestinians have died as a result of Israel’s bombing and ground operations in the Gaza Strip.
Israel is expanding its offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah and has largely cut off the flow of food, medicine and other supplies to Palestinians facing widespread starvation.
More than a million Palestinians have fled Rafah, mostly in tent camps across central and southern Gaza.
