A civil defense official said at least 50 people were injured and more than a dozen were killed in the attack on the al-Mufti school, where hundreds of displaced people from across Gaza have taken refuge.
The main areas of conflict in Gaza in recent days have been in the north, where Israeli forces have been stepping up attacks for more than a week as part of a major ground operation. Since then, hundreds have been killed, according to Gaza authorities.
Residents of Beit Hanoun, Jabalia and Beit Lahiya reported being cut off from neighboring Gaza City, while Israeli tanks were seen on the outskirts of the territory’s largest city.
Hospitals in the area are running out of supplies, although the World Health Organization said a joint operation with the Red Cross had restocked two of them – after nine days of trying.
Five children in northern Gaza were reportedly killed in an Israeli airstrike while playing on a street corner in al-Shati camp.
Graphic images from the scene after the incident show the bloodied bodies of what appear to be young teenagers.
One of them seemed to be clutching several glass beads in his hand.
According to a report from the scene, given to a BBC correspondent, the drone hit a man walking down the street, killing the children and injuring seven others.
Later pictures showed the bodies of the five boys, wrapped in white shrouds and laid side by side on the floor.
The aunt of one of the boys, named Rami, wrote a moving tribute to him on social media. She said the family moved to al-Shati after being forced to leave their homes in Jabalia for a “safer area” because of the war.
The IDF has not yet responded to questions about the incident.
During the last year of the war, the Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas, reported more than 42,000 people killed.
About 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.4 million residents have been displaced by the war – many of them forced to move multiple times to escape.
The fighting began after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on northern Israel on October 7 last year – killing around 1,200 people in northern Israel and taking more than 200 hostages in Gaza.
