Israeli strike on Gaza residential building leaves at least 29 dead

The Hamas-run Civil Defence agency said warplanes targeted the area near al-Hawashi mosque in the Shejaiya neighbourhood on Tuesday morning, News.Az reports, citing BBC.

It said eight children were among the dead, more than 60 people were injured, and that rescuers were still searching for two dozen others under the rubble.

The Israeli military said it had struck a "senior Hamas terrorist" who was responsible for planning and executing attacks in the area.

Numerous steps were taken to mitigate harm to civilians, including the use of "precision weapons", it added.

The military also accused Hamas of violating international law by deliberately using the civilian population as human shields.

Video from Shejaiya showed the dust-covered bodies of small children being carried away from the rubble by distraught relatives and rescue workers.

Hamas also said the Israeli military had "committed a bloody massacre".

Thousands of Shejaiya residents fled last week after the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of the neighbourhood, saying it was operating with force to destroy "terrorist infrastructure".

Earlier on Tuesday, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said at least 33 people had been killed in Israeli attacks over the previous 24 hours.

That brought the reported total of those killed since Israel resumed its air and ground campaign against Hamas on 18 March to 1,482.

Another 390,000 people have been displaced over the past three weeks, with two-thirds of the territory now designated by the Israeli military as "no-go" zones or placed under evacuation orders, according to the UN.