At least 44 killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza, Hamas-backed health ministry says

At least 44 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the territory's Hamas-backed health ministry.

An Israeli strike on a police station in Jabalia in northern Gaza killed at least 10 people, with Israel's military saying it had struck a command centre of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Two Israeli missiles hit the police station, which was located near a market, wounding dozens of people in addition to those killed.

Other Israeli strikes have killed at least 34 people across the enclave, the health ministry said. The health ministry also said the Durra Children's Hospital in Gaza City had become non-operational a day after it was hit by an Israeli strike, which damaged the intensive care unit and destroyed the facility's solar power panel system.

No one was killed and Israel has not commented on that incident. It comes after Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas and renewed its air and ground war in Gaza over a month ago.

Since the beginning of March, it has stopped all food and other imports reaching Gaza's two million Palestinians in an effort to pressure Hamas to release the remaining Israeli hostages. The war was sparked when Hamas-led militants stormed across the border into southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 hostages.

Most have since been released. Read more:Israeli troops shot at Gaza aid workers from 'point-blank range' More than 51,000 people have been killed in Israel's offensive, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.

Israel claims to have killed around 20,000 militants, but has not provided evidence. Hamas has said it will only release the remaining 59 captives, of whom 24 are believed to be alive, in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza - while Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas.

Egypt and Qatar have been working to mediate the conflict, with the backing of the United States, but so far they have failed to reconcile disputes between Israel and Hamas..