Palestinians mourn relatives killed in an Israeli strike at the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis on Wednesday. AFP

Israeli forces have struck several such schools in recent months. The Al Jawni School in central Gaza's Nuseirat, already hit several times during the war, was struck again on Wednesday, civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

"The number of martyrs has risen to 14," he said, updating an earlier toll of 10 killed in the "Israeli bombing of Al-Jawni school" which also wounded numerous people.

AFP was unable to independently verify the toll, which the spokesman said included several women and children.

A medical source at Nuseirat's Al Awda health centre in central Gaza told AFP that 15 people killed in the strike had been brought to hospitals in the area.

Nine were brought to Al Awda, and six to Al Aqsa Martyrs's Hospital, in the central Gaza city of Deir Al Balah.

AFP journalists witnessed several unconscious men and women brought to Al Aqsa hospital on stretchers, or in the arms of medics in the case of children.

"Most of the people took refuge in schools and the schools were bombed and the martyrs were mostly children and women," Basil Amarneh, a local, said at the hospital.

The Hamas government media office said about 5,000 displaced people were sheltering at the school, which used to be run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, when it was hit on Wednesday.

Al Jawni has been hit at least five times in more than 11 months of war, Bassal said. In July, at least 16 people were killed in an Israeli air strike on the school.

Agence France-Presse