At least 22 people are reported to have been killed in attacks on Saturday evening, carried out against several residential buildings and other structures in the town of Beit Lahiya. The death toll is expected to rise. A further 15 people are reported to have been injured.
Israel's military claims to have carried out a "precision attack" against "militant Palestinians" in Beit Lahiya and that the military has taken measures to avoid harming civilians.
A further 11 people are reported to have been killed in an Israeli attack on the Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza, according to the health department, which does not specify when the attack took place.
Egypt's President Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi says that his country has proposed a two-day ceasefire in Gaza, and that four of Hamas' hostages would then be released. Neither Israel nor Hamas has commented on the statement.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres is "shocked" by the situation in northern Gaza, says his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric.
"The Secretary-General is shocked by the appalling levels of death, injury, and destruction in the north, with civilians trapped under rubble, the sick and injured lacking life-saving healthcare, and families lacking food and shelter", says Dujarric.
According to the health department, hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks and more than 60,000 have been forced to flee.
