At least 24 Palestinians have been killed in two separate Israeli air strikes overnight, including a strike on a school sheltering displaced families in central Gaza, according to medics and civil defence officials, BBC reported.

The strike targeted Fahmi Al-Jargawi School in Gaza City, which had been housing hundreds of displaced people who fled the northern town of Beit Lahia, currently under intense Israeli military assault.

A spokesperson for Gaza's Hamas-run Civil Defence agency said 20 bodies, including children, were recovered from the school - many of them severely burned - after fires engulfed two classrooms turned into living quarters.

The Israeli military has been contacted for comment, according to BBC.