Israeli forces killed at least 24 Palestinians in three separate airstrikes on Gaza City, health officials have said, while tanks deepened their incursion into the town of Rafah in the south of the enclave, Reuters reports.

Two of the strikes hit two schools in Gaza City, killing at least 14 people, medics said. Another strike on a house in the Shati camp, one of the Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee camps, killed 10 others.

The house in Shati belonged to the extended family of Hamas political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, who is based in Qatar, killing one of his sisters along with other relatives too, family members and medics said.

The Israeli Air Force struck two structures “used by Hamas terrorists in Shati and Daraj Tuffah in the northern Gaza Strip. The terrorists operated inside school compounds that were used by Hamas as a shield for its terrorist activities”, the military statement said.

Hamas denies using civilian facilities such as schools and hospitals for military purposes.