An Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people in northern Gaza on Thursday killed at least 15 people, including five children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

The Israeli military said the strike targeted dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants who had gathered at the school.

The strike hit the Abu Hussein school in Jabaliya, an urban refugee camp in northern Gaza where Israel has been waging a major air and ground operation for more than a week.

Fares Abu Hamza, head of the ministry's emergency unit in northern Gaza, confirmed the toll and said dozens of people were wounded. He said the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital was struggling to treat the casualties.

"Many women and children are in critical condition,” he said.

The military said it targeted a command center run by both militant groups inside the school. It provided a list of dozens of names of people it identified as militants who were present when the strike was called in. It was not immediately possible to verify the names.