GAZA — Israeli strikes across Gaza have killed at least 59 people, including women and children, hospital officials have said as Israel prepares to ramp up its campaign against Hamas militants.

The strikes included an attack on Tuesday night on a school sheltering hundreds of displaced Palestinians, which killed 27 people, officials from the Al-Aqsa Hospital said, including nine women and three children.

It was the fifth time since the war began that the school in central Gaza has been struck.

An early morning strike on another school turned shelter in Gaza City killed 16 people, according to officials at Al-Ahli Hospital, while strikes on targets in other areas killed at least 16 others.

A large column of smoke rose and fires pierced the skies above the school shelter in Bureij, a built-up urban refugee camp. Paramedics and rescuers rushed to pull people out from the blaze.

The Israeli military (IDF) made no immediate comment on the strikes.

Israel blames Hamas for the death toll because it operates from civilian infrastructure, including schools.

The new bloodshed comes days after Israel approved a plan to intensify military operations in the Palestinian enclave, which would include seizing Gaza, holding on to captured territories, forcibly displacing Palestinians to southern Gaza and taking control of aid distribution along with private security companies.

Israel is also calling up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers to carry out the plan.

Israel says the plan will be gradual and will not be implemented until after US President Donald Trump ends his visit to the region later this month.

Any escalation of fighting would likely drive up the death toll in the devastating war now entering its 20th month.

And with Israel already controlling some 50% of Gaza, increasing its hold on the territory, for an indefinite amount of time, could open up the potential for a military occupation, which would raise questions about how Israel plans to have the territory governed, especially at a time when it is considering how to implement Trump’s vision to take over the Strip.

Trump stunned many in Israel when he declared that only 21 of the 59 hostages remaining in Gaza are still alive.

Israel insists that figure stands at 24, although an Israeli official said there was "serious concern" for the lives of three of the captives.

The official said there has been no sign of life from those three, whom the official did not identify.

He said that until there is evidence proving otherwise, the three are considered to be alive.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the families of the captives were updated on those developments.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group representing the families of the captives, demanded from Israel's government that if there is "new information being kept from us, give it to us immediately."

It also called for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt the war in Gaza until all hostages are returned.

"This is the most urgent and important national mission," it said on a post on X.

Since Israel ended a ceasefire with Hamas in March, it has unleashed fierce strikes on Gaza that have killed hundreds and captured swaths of territory.

Before the truce ended, Israel halted all humanitarian aid into the territory, including food, fuel and water, setting off what is believed to be the worst humanitarian crisis in 19 months of war.

The war began when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians.

Hamas took 251 people as hostages, and is currently holding 59, of whom 24 are believed to be alive.

A subsequent Israeli offensive has to date killed 52,400 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry whose figures do not distinguish between fighters and civilians.

The Israeli military says 850 of its soldiers have died since the start of the war. — Euronews