ReutersRescue workers say the strikes in Khan Younis hit at least two family homes
At least 38 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in southern Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry says.
Rescue workers said nine children from one family were among those killed on the outskirts of the southern city of Khan Younis.
The Israeli military said its troops had killed numerous Hamas fighters and dismantled infrastructure during an operation in the Khan Younis area, and questioned the number of casualties reported.
It came as Israeli forces reportedly raided one of the last functioning hospitals in the north of the territory.
The WHO said it had lost contact with medics at Kamal Adwan hospital in the northern town of Beit Lahia, close to the besieged Jabalia area, while the health ministry said Israeli troops had detained staff, patients and displaced people there.
The Israeli military said its forces were operating "in the area” of Kamal Adwan based on intelligence “regarding the presence of terrorists”.
Hundreds of Palestinians have reportedly been killed and tens of thousands displaced in recent weeks by a new Israeli ground offensive in Jabalia, which the military has said aims to stop Hamas fighters regrouping.
At least two residential buildings in the south-eastern al-Manara neighbourhood of Khan Younis were hit by Israeli strikes around dawn on Friday, according to a spokesman for Gaza’s Hamas-run Civil Defence agency.
Fourteen people, including nine children, were killed when the home of the al-Fara family was hit, Mahmoud Bassal said. Six members of the Abdeen family were also reportedly killed in another strike.
Pictures from the scene showed relatives and neighbours searching the ruins of several destroyed buildings next a large crater.
Saleh Adel al-Fara told BBC Arabic’s Gaza Today programme that there had been clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters on Thursday evening, and that his family had gone to sleep “when things quietened down a bit”.
“Suddenly, at 2:30 in the morning, I woke up feeling suffocated and started screaming for help. I then found my older brother searching for me under the rubble, telling me that the house had been bombed,” he said.
“I don’t remember what happened next. Both my brother and sister were martyred, and my two pregnant sisters were injured.”
He added: “There are no resistance fighters among us, despite what they claim. All the wounded and dead are civilians.”
Another member of the family, Umm al-Ameer al-Fara, told AFP news agency: "The rocket fell next to us, and we were buried under the rubble. My children and sister were killed.”
The Civil Defence posted a video that it said showed its rescue workers recovering the bodies of the nine children from the al-Faras' home. The same children were also later photographed in body bags at the nearby European Gaza hospital.
Reuters said the bodies of another three children were brought to Nasser hospital, in Khan Younis.
ReutersWitnesses and health officials said the attack included both air and artillery strikes
A resident, who asked not to be named, told BBC Arabic that Israeli fighter jets and tanks had attacked the area without any warning.
“The army stormed into our district, passing right in front of our homes with advanced machinery, and began shooting. They bombed the house of the Abdeen family, as well as the homes of some neighbours,” the man said.
“In the past, we would receive warnings via SMS to evacuate the area before military operations. This time, they targeted unarmed civilians who had nothing to do with any [armed] organisations.”
Health officials also told the Associated Press that the attack included both air and artillery strikes.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that its troops "operated following intelligence information, dismantling terrorist infrastructure and eliminating numerous terrorists" in the Khan Younis area overnight.
"Reports on the number of casualties in the area do not align with the current information held by the IDF," it added.
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group's unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
More than 42,840 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.