Gaza, Sep 19 (IANS): At least eight Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack on a school sheltering displaced people east of Gaza City, said Palestinian sources.

Israeli aircraft bombed the 'Ibn Al-Haytham' school housing displaced people in the Shuja'iyya neighbourhood on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported quoting Palestinian security sources.

"Our teams recovered the bodies of eight victims, including five children and two women, as a result of the Israeli airstrike," the Gaza Civil Defence said in a press statement.

Local sources and eyewitnesses said the airstrike caused significant destruction to the schoolyard and classrooms.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army said in a statement that its air force targeted Hamas militants at a command and control centre previously known as the Ibn Al-Haytham school in Gaza City.

Israel has been launching a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on October 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and some 250 taken hostage.

The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks in Gaza has risen to 41,272, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement Wednesday.