Gaza City, Gaza - The latest Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter for displaced Palestinians in Gaza killed at least 21 people Saturday, in what the Government Media Office called a "horrific massacre."

The dead included "13 children and six women", one of whom was pregnant, said Gaza civil defense spokesperson Mahmud Bassal.

There were "around 30 injured, including nine children (needing) limb amputations, as a result of an Israeli bombing on Al-Zaytoun School C" in Gaza City, he said.

Thousands of displaced people had sought shelter at the school, Bassal said.

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Repeating its usual refrain without any evidence, Israel's military said in a statement the air force had "conducted a precise strike on terrorists who were operating inside a Hamas command and control center in Gaza City".

It said the target was "embedded inside" the Al Falah School, which is adjacent to the Al-Zaytoun School buildings.

An AFP reporter at the scene confirmed that Al-Zaytoun School C had been hit.

Witnesses said that before the strike, orphans had gathered there because they were due to receive sponsorship from a local NGO for humanitarian assistance.

It was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes on school buildings housing displaced people in Gaza.

A strike on the UN-run Al-Jawni School in central Gaza on September 11 drew international outcry after the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said six of its staffers were among the 18 reported fatalities.

The vast majority of the Gaza Strip's 2.4 million people have been displaced multiple times by Israel's brutal attacks.

At least 41,391 Palestinians, a majority of them civilians, have been killed since the Hamas-led October 7 attacks, which triggered what an increasing number of experts and international bodies are characterizing as a genocidal response, fully backed by Israel's Western allies.