More than 50 Palestinians have been killed or remain missing after an Israeli air raid on a residential building in the Jabalia al-Balad area of northern Gaza, according to the Gaza civil defence, Al Jazeera reports.

Civil defence crews described the scene as a “horrific massacre”, reporting that they recovered the bodies of four victims and rescued six others from the rubble. However, more than 50 people are still believed to be trapped under the debris of the four-storey building.

Rescue operations have been completely halted due to a lack of heavy machinery.