An Israeli airstrike that hit several houses and a multi-storey residential building in Beit Lahiya town in northern Gaza on Saturday caused dozens of casualties, doctors and officials said, with rescue operations still underway, Reuters reports.

The Gaza media office said at least 73 people had been killed in the strike. No official casualty figures were immediately available from the health ministry however Medway Abbas, a senior health ministry official, said the figures were accurate.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the incident but said the numbers issued by the media office were exaggerated. It said the figures did not align with its own information, the precise munitions used or the accuracy of the strike, which it said was directed at a Hamas target.

Palestinian health officials said rescue operations were being hampered by the cut-off of telecommunication and internet services for a second day.

“This is a war of genocide and ethnic cleansing. The occupation has conducted a horrifying massacre in Beit Lahiya,” the Hamas media office said.