Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 17 Palestinians, eight of them at a school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City, medics said, as the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of a hospital in the north, Reuters reports.

Palestinian medics said eight people, including children, were killed in the Musa Bin Nusayr School that sheltered displaced families in Gaza City.

The Israeli military said in a statement the strike targeted Hamas fighters operating from a command centre embedded inside the school. It said Hamas militants used the place to plan and execute attacks against Israeli forces.

Also in Gaza City, medics said four Palestinians were killed when an airstrike hit a car.

At least five other Palestinians were killed in two separate airstrikes in Rafah and Khan Younis south of the enclave.

In the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, where the army has operated since October, Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, said the army ordered staff to evacuate the hospital and move patients and injured people toward another hospital in the area.

Abu Safiya said the mission was “next to impossible” because staff did not have ambulances to move the patients.