Gaza, Oct 28 (IANS): Nine Palestinians, including three journalists, were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a school sheltering displaced persons in the al-Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City, according to Palestinian sources.

Local sources and eyewitnesses reported to Xinhua that an Israeli aircraft struck the "Asma" school with at least one missile.

Paramedics reported on Sunday that medical teams recovered the bodies of nine victims, including children, while more than 20 others with varying injuries were taken to hospital, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Civil Defence Authority in Gaza said that its teams, in coordination with medical personnel, are continuing to search for missing individuals beneath the rubble.

The Hamas-run government media office in Gaza reported that three journalists were killed in the airstrike, and they were from Al-Aqsa TV, the local news site Sand, and the Jerusalem Foundation.

It called on the international community and journalism-related organisations to "deter the occupation, hold it accountable in international courts for its ongoing crimes, and pressure it to end" the killing of Palestinian journalists.

The Israeli army has not yet issued any comment regarding the airstrike.

The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip since October of last year had risen to 42,924, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Saturday.