An Israeli air strike has hit two schools in Gaza City, killing at least 25 people, the Palestinian official news agency says, while the Israeli military claims it struck a Hamas military compound embedded in the schools.

An Israeli air strike hit a tent camp inside a hospital in central Gaza earlier in the day.

Gaza health officials said at least 44 Palestinians were killed on Sunday, the day after a round of talks in Cairo ended without result.

Footage circulated on Palestinian media showed bodies scattered inside the yard of one of two blast-wrecked schools as residents rushed to carry casualties, including children, and loaded them into ambulances.

The Palestinian officials news agency WAFA and Hamas media said dozens were wounded in addition to the 25 fatalities in the schools of Hassan Salama and Al-Nasser, which housed Palestinian displaced families.

They said the strike destroyed several structures inside the facilities.

The Israeli military said it struck militants inside a Hamas command embedded within the schools, accusing Hamas of operating from within civilian property.

Hamas denies using civilian institutions for military purposes.

The Hamas-run government media office said Israel had struck 172 designated shelters, mostly schools, housing thousands of displaced families since October 7.

Earlier in the day, an Israeli strike inside the Al-Aqsa Hospital compound started a fire, and wounded at least 18 people as well as killing five, medical authorities said.

The Israeli military said it struck a militant who “conducted terror activities” and that secondary explosions were identified, indicating weapons were present in the area.

The hospital compound is in Deir Al-Balah, an area crowded with thousands of people displaced by fighting in other parts of the enclave.

Elsewhere in Deir Al-Balah, three Palestinians were killed when an Israeli missile struck a house.

Separate Israeli strikes killed eight others inside their home in Jabalia camp in northern Gaza City and three inside a car.

Israeli forces have continued strikes and shelling in the Gaza Strip after diplomatic efforts in Cairo on Saturday ended without progress, and as Israel braces for a serious escalation in the north.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has insisted that Israel must retain control over areas on the border with Egypt and be able to control entry to northern Gaza, said Hamas had yet to agree to a proposed ceasefire and hostage release deal.

Israel seeks the return of 115 Israeli and foreign hostages still being held after they were abducted during the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

Hamas has blamed Netanyahu for the lack of progress, saying he is not interested in agreement.

Regional tension has soared following the assassination of Hamas’ leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday, a day after an Israeli strike in Beirut killed Fuad Shukr, a top military commander from Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

At least 39,550 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, Gaza health officials say.