Bloodbath continues in Gaza as Israel kills dozens in overnight carnage

Israeli military strikes across Gaza have killed at least 65 Palestinians overnight, including in a school sheltering displaced families, medics said, as Israeli tanks advanced in areas of Khan Younis in the south of the enclave.

Israeli tanks carried out a raid on several areas in eastern and central Khan Younis in southern Gaza, before partially retreating, leaving at least 40 people killed and dozens wounded, according to the official Voice of Palestine radio.

In Gaza City, at least 22 Palestinians were killed, the medics said.

One Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City killed 17 people, while another hit the Amal Orphan Society, which also houses displaced persons, killing at least five others, the medics said.

Later on Wednesday, an Israeli strike on a school sheltering Palestinian displaced families in Nuseirat in central Gaza killed three people and wounded 15, medics said.

The escalation came after Iran launched a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday in retaliation for Israel's offensives in Gaza, Lebanon and assassinations.

Palestinians in Gaza, locked in nearly a year of war with Israel, celebrated as they watched dozens of rockets en route to Israel.

Some of those rockets fell in the Palestinian enclave after being intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome missile defences, but caused no human losses, witnesses said.