A fireball erupts following an Israeli strike near a tent encampment sheltering people displaced by war in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. AFP
The bloodshed was the latest to rock the war-shattered Palestinian territory despite a ceasefire in place since October 10.
The strike hit the Al-Sitt camp in the Deir el-Balah area, said the Palestinian civil defence agency.
AFP photographs showed flames engulfing the tents, sending thick black smoke into the sky.
Gaza's Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital confirmed the toll.
Suhaila Khalil, who lives in a tent in the area, said she heard screams as the strike tore through the camp.
"The explosion happened several hundred metres from our tent, but smoke and shrapnel rained down on displaced people, leaving several injured," Khalil, 57, told AFP.
Hundreds of thousands of Gazans have been living in makeshift camps since the Israeli war erupted on October 7, 2023.
Gaza's health ministry says at least 689 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the truce.
This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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