Israeli strikes on northern and central Gaza killed at least 87 Palestinians in 24 hours, local health authorities said, as the death toll in the enclave surpassed 44,000.

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.

Hospital officials in northern Gaza say many people have been killed in overnight Israeli air strikes. Gazan rescue teams say search operations began early in the morning after Israel bombed at least five buildings in Beit Lahia and Gaza City.

Rescue operations were under way in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, medics said. Hamas media put the number of fatalities at 66, most of whom it said had not been recovered. There was no comment by the Israeli military,

The Israeli military bombed at least five crowded homes in northern Gaza early on Thursday with many casualties, health officials said, as troops deepened an incursion along the territory’s northern edge.