Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said the strikes were carried out overnight and into the morning and "targeted a number of citizens' homes" in Nuseirat refugee camp.

The camp's Al-Awda Hospital said it had received "the bodies of 30 martyrs, including 14 women and 12 children".

The Israeli military said it had "struck several terror targets in the central Gaza Strip", but that the number of reported casualties "does not align with the information held by the (military)".

The Al-Awda Hospital later reported that 13 people had been killed by Israeli gunfire while waiting near an aid distribution point on Gaza's main north-south route, Salah al-Din Road.

The Israeli military said it was "not aware of casualties as a result of (army) fire adjacent to the distribution site in the central Gaza Strip".

The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said the overall death toll from Israel's military campaign in Gaza had now reached 60,034, the majority of them civilians.

The war was sparked by Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, the majority civilians, based on an AFP tally of official figures.

At the weekend, under international pressure to head off the territory's slide into famine, Israel declared a series of "tactical pauses" to allow aid deliveries.

According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, the pause in military operations covers "key populated areas" between 10 am (0700 GMT) and 8 pm every day.

Designated aid convoy routes will be secure from 6 am to 11 pm, Netanyahu's office said.

During the night, however, strikes continue.