On 7 October last year, Hamas launched an attack in southern Israel killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.

In retaliation, Israel launched a massive operation inside the Gaza Strip with the stated aim of eliminating Hamas.

So far, at least 44,875 people have been killed and more than 100,000 injured – mostly civilians, the Hamas-run health ministry says. The UN regards these figures as reliable.

At least 30 of them were killed – and another 50 wounded – in an Israeli strike on a post office turned shelter for displaced people in central Gaza on Thursday night, according to local medics.

Locals say Gazans displaced by the 14-month conflict were sheltering there and that many members of one extended family had been killed.

The Israeli military said it was targeting a senior Islamic Jihad member behind attacks on Israeli civilians and troops.

It accused the armed group of exploiting Gaza’s civilians as human shields for its activities.