Israel resumed its war on Gaza on March 18, after it unilaterally broke a ceasefire deal, brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the US.

Since then, Israeli bombardment in Gaza has killed more than 1890 Palestinians, including 595 children and 380 women, bringing the total death toll since the war erupted to at least 51,266 people.

"Seventeen people have been killed since dawn," civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

He said 11 of the victims, who included women and children, died in an air strike targeting the Yafa school building in Gaza City's Al-Tuffah neighbourhood.

"The school was housing displaced people. The bombing sparked a massive blaze, and several charred bodies have since been recovered," he said.

Since the war began on October 7, 2023, tens of thousands of displaced Gazans have sought refuge in schools to escape the Israeli bombing.

Aid agencies estimate that the vast majority of Gaza's 2.4 million residents have been displaced at least once since the war began.

Bassal said his crew has received distress calls from several areas in Gaza.

"We lack the necessary tools and equipment to carry out effective rescue operations or recover the bodies of martyrs," he added.

Bassal also mentioned that Israeli air strikes destroyed on Tuesday several bulldozers and other equipment which was needed to "clear debris and recover the bodies of martyrs from beneath the rubble", as well as to "save lives, pull people from the rubble".

Elsewhere in Gaza, additional fatalities were reported on Wednesday.

A child was killed in an air strike on a home in the northern Jabalia area, and another individual was killed in a similar incident in the southern city of Khan Younis, the civil defence said.

Four more people were killed in Israeli shelling of homes in eastern Gaza City. Several others remain trapped beneath the rubble, according to Bassal.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.

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