At least 16 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinian families in central Gaza, the Palestinian health ministry said, in an attack Israel said had targeted militants.
The health ministry said the attack on the school in Al-Nuseirat killed at least 16 people and wounded more than 50.
The Israeli military said it targeted gunmen operating in the vicinity, after taking precautions to minimize risk to civilians.
Hamas denied its fighters were there.
At the scene, Ayman al-Atouneh said he saw children among the dead. "We came here running to see the targeted area, we saw bodies of children, in pieces, this is a playground, there was a trampoline here, there were swing-sets, and vendors," he said.
Mahmoud Basal, spokesman of the Gaza Civil Emergency Service, said the number of dead could rise as many of the wounded were in critical condition.
The attack on the school meant no place in the enclave was safe for families who leave their houses to seek shelters, he said in a statement.
Al-Nuseirat, one Gaza's eight historic refugee camps, was the site of stepped up Israeli bombardment.
An air strike earlier on a house in the camp killed at least ten people and wounded many others, according to medics.
In its daily update of people killed in the nearly nine-month-old war, the Gaza health ministry said Israeli military strikes across the enclave killed at least 29 Palestinians in the past 24 hours and wounded 100 others.
Among those killed in separate air strikes were five local journalists, raising the toll of journalists killed since 7 October to 158, according to the Hamas-led Gaza government media office.
Gaza health authorities say more than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive.
Israel launched its operation, aimed at eliminating the militant Islamist group Hamas, in response to a Hamas-led assault on Israel on 7 October in which 1,200 people were killed and over 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Hostage talks
Meanwhile Hamas accepted a US proposal to begin talks on releasing Israeli hostages, including soldiers and men, 16 days after the first phase of an agreement aimed at ending the Gaza war, a senior Hamas source told Reuters.
The militant Islamist group has dropped a demand that Israel first commit to a permanent ceasefire before signing the agreement, and would allow negotiations to achieve that throughout the six-week first phase, the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity because the talks are private.
A Palestinian official close to the internationally mediated peace efforts had said the proposal could lead to a framework agreement if embraced by Israel and would end the nine-month-old war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
A source in Israel's negotiating team, speaking on condition of anonymity, said yesterday that there was now a real chance of achieving agreement.
That was in sharp contrast to past instances, when Israel said conditions attached by Hamas were unacceptable.
A spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a request for comment today, on the Jewish Sabbath.
Yesterday his office said talks would continue next week and it emphasised that gaps between the sides still remained.
The new proposal ensures that mediators would guarantee a temporary ceasefire, aid delivery and the withdrawal of Israeli troops as long as indirect talks continue to implement the second phase of the agreement, the Hamas source said.
Efforts to secure a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza have intensified over the past few days with active shuttle diplomacy among Washington, Israel and Qatar, which is leading mediation efforts from Doha, where the exiled Hamas leadership is based.
A regional source said the US administration was trying hard to secure a deal before the presidential election in November.
Mr Netanyahu said yesterday that the head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency had returned from an initial meeting with mediators in Qatar and that negotiations would continue next week.
Rafah operations
Israeli forces, which have deepened their incursions into Rafah in the south of the enclave near the border with Egypt, killed four Palestinian policemen and wounded eight others, in an air strike on their vehicle, health officials said.
A statement issued by the Hamas-run interior ministry said the four included Fares Abdel-Al, the head of the police force in the western Rafah neighbourhood of Tel Al-Sultan.
The Israeli military said forces continued "intelligence-base operations" in Rafah, destroyed several underground structures, seized weapons and equipment, and killed several Palestinian gunmen.
Israel said its operations in Rafah aimed to eradicate the last Hamas armed wing battalions.
The Israeli military said it eliminated a Hamas rocket cell in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza that operated from inside a humanitarian designated area.
It said it carried out a precise strike after taking measures to ensure civilians were unharmed.
Hamas denies Israeli accusations that it uses civilian properties and facilities for military purposes.
The armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said fighters attacked Israeli forces in several areas of Gaza with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs.
