At least 38 people have been killed and many wounded in two Israeli airstrikes on buildings in Gaza City, Hamas said.
Israel’s military said the warplanes struck Hamas military infrastructure sites, adding that more details would be released later.
A residential block in Al-Shadi neighborhood, one of Gaza’s historic refugee camps, was hit multiple times, a spokesman for Gaza’s civil defense said. The other strike targeted homes in al-Tufa district, the Hamas-run government media office said.
Footage shows people carrying the injured and searching the rubble for survivors as dust fills the streets.
Earlier reports put the death toll at 42.
Israeli media reported that the airstrikes may have targeted a senior Hamas official.
Gaza City’s civil defense spokesman Hussein Muhaisen told AFP the impact of the strikes was “like an earthquake”.
“As you can see the houses destroyed, the whole area was targeted. There are still families in the rubble,” he said.
“Some of the injured have been transferred to Baptist Hospital and now we are rescuing others from the rubble and the situation is very difficult as there is no equipment and fuel for the ambulances.”
Mr Borrell called for an independent inquiry and for those responsible to be held accountable.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Saturday said in an initial investigation into the shooting in southern Gaza’s al-Mawasi area that “there was no direct attack by the IDF against the Red Cross”.
It said the incident would be “promptly investigated” and findings presented.
Israel launched a campaign to wipe out Hamas in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, during which some 1,200 people – mostly civilians – were killed and 251 taken hostage.
More than 37,551 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Its figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but say 14,680 children, women and the elderly have been identified among the dead by the end of April.
