The biggest hospital in the Gaza Strip and another with children on life support have been coming under bombardment, the World Health Organisation said, Reuters reports.

Twenty hospitals in Gaza were now out of action entirely, it said.

Asked about the Gaza health ministry’s allegation of an Israeli strike on the courtyard of Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City, WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said: “I haven’t got the detail on Al Shifa but we do know they are coming under bombardment.”

She said there was also “significant bombardment” on Rantissi Hospital, the only hospital providing pediatric services in North Gaza. Asked to elaborate, she said there was “intense violence” at the Shifa site, quoting colleagues on the ground. She did not attribute blame.

Gaza families have been sheltering at the hospital, the territory’s largest, which is inside Gaza City encircled by Israeli troops.