Gaza’s civil defence agency said an Israeli strike hit a school in Gaza City killing at least seven people, while the Israeli military said it struck a Hamas command centre, AFP reports.

The bodies of five men and two children were pulled out of the building “after an Israeli plane dropped a bomb on the second floor of the [Mustafa Hafiz School] building housing thousands of displaced people,” agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

He said 15 people were wounded in the strike.

AFP was unable to independently verify the death toll at the school, which the Israeli military said was targeted because it housed a Hamas command and control centre.

“Hamas terrorists used the command and control centre to plan and execute attacks against IDF (Israeli army) troops and the State of Israel,” the military said in a statement. It said it carried out a “precise strike on terrorists who were operating” inside the school.