According to the official Palestinian news agency, an Israeli airstrike on two schools in the northern Gaza Strip that served as shelters for displaced Palestinians on Monday resulted in the deaths of at least fifty persons.

The purported assault transpired concurrently with Israeli bombings targeting the southern regions of the enclave and with Israeli troops and tanks waging a ground offensive against Hamas terrorists operating in that area.

According to the WAFA media, the strike occurred in Gaza City’s Daraj neighborhood. Independent verification of the story was not possible at this time, and an Israeli army spokesman stated that the report was being investigated.

It came as Gaza’s health ministry said that at least 15,899 Palestinians, 70% of them women or under 18s, have now been killed in Israeli air and artillery strikes on the enclave since Oct. 7. Thousands more are missing and feared buried in rubble.

Earlier on Monday, Israel ordered Palestinians to leave parts of Gaza’s main southern city, Khan Younis. But residents said that areas which they had been told to go to were also coming under fire.