Israel says Hamas uses hospitals and civilians as human shields, and has made public videos and photos to support that claim. Hamas rejects the allegations and says it does not use the civilian population or facilities for military purposes.

Scores of people were killed overnight in Israeli airstrikes on houses in northern Gaza where displaced people were sheltering, according to media reports and agencies run by Gaza's Hamas-led administration.

Israeli forces killed at least 48 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, including a rescue worker, health officials said, as troops deepened an incursion along the territory's northern edge, bombarding a hospital and blowing up homes.