REUTERS, Cairo/Gaza

An Israeli airstrike killed at least 10 people and wounded several others outside a school housing displaced Palestinians on Monday, health officials said, the latest violence to overshadow the fragile US-backed Gaza ceasefire deal.

Before the strikes, some Palestinians had clashed with members of an Israeli-backed militia, who they said attacked the school in an attempt to abduct some people, medics and residents said.

In the midst of the clashes, east of the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Israeli drones fired two missiles into the area, killing at least 10 people and wounding several others, they added.

It was not immediately clear how many civilians had been killed in the strikes, which hit in a closely packed neighbourhood of mostly displaced Palestinians.

Ahmed al-Maghazi, an eyewitness, said their area was attacked by members of the Israeli-backed militia who operate in the territory adjacent to where the Israeli forces are in control, before the militia opened fire.

“The residents tried to defend their homes, but the occupation forces targeted them directly,” he told Reuters.

Earlier on Monday, an Israeli airstrike killed one Palestinian and wounded a child as they travelled on a motorbike in Gaza City, medics said.

Medics said that Israeli forces killed another Palestinian when they opened fire on a vehicle in central Gaza, taking Monday’s death toll to at least 12.

The Israeli military said they fired at the “unmarked vehicle”, which continued to accelerate toward troops despite “warning shots”.

The World Health Organization’s chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said a contractor in Gaza was killed during a security incident, prompting the organization to suspend medical evacuations from Gaza via Rafah to Egypt until further notice.