More than 80 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, most of them in Gaza City, local hospitals said.
Women and children were among at least 20 who died when a strike hit a building and tents sheltering displaced families near Firas market in Gaza City's central Daraj neighbourhood overnight, according to first responders.
The Israeli military said it struck two Hamas fighters and that the number of casualties did not align with its own information.
Meanwhile, Israeli tanks and troops continued their advance into the heart of the city, which Israel says is the last stronghold of Hamas.
The military has said the ground offensive aims to secure the release of the hostages still held by Hamas and ensure the Palestinian armed group's 'decisive defeat'.
Hundreds of thousands of residents have so far fled Gaza's biggest urban centre, where a famine was confirmed last month by a UN-backed body. But hundreds of thousands more remain there in dire humanitarian conditions, with health and other essential services collapsing.
In a separate development, US special envoy Steve Witkoff said President Donald Trump had presented a '21-point plan for peace in the Mideast and Gaza' to a group of Arab and Muslim leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.
Witkoff gave no details about the plan, but said it addressed 'Israeli concerns as well as the concerns of all the neighbours in the region'.
'We're hopeful, and I might say even confident, that in the coming days we'll be able to announce some sort of breakthrough,' he added.
Hospitals in Gaza City said they had received the bodies of more than 60 people killed by Israeli strikes and gunfire since midnight.
The Hamas-run Civil Defence agency said a third of the fatalities were the result of an Israeli strike on a warehouse sheltering displaced people near Firas market, and that six women and nine children were among them.
International journalists are blocked by Israel from entering Gaza independently, so it is difficult to verify the reports. But video footage from the scene showed people removing a body wrapped in a blanket from the rubble of a destroyed building.
Mohammed Hajjaj, whose relatives were among the dead, told AFP that the site was hit by 'heavy bombing' while people were asleep.
'We came and found children and women torn apart. It was a pitiful sight,' he said.
Other pictures showed people mourning beside at least six bodies in white shrouds and plastic bags laid on the floor outside al-Ahli hospital.
One woman, Tala al-Deeb, said four of the bodies were her sister's husband and two children, as well as her sister's father-in-law.
When asked to comment, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it 'struck two Hamas terrorists'.
'The IDF is aware of a claim regarding casualties in the area, however the number of casualties does not align with the information held by the IDF,' it added.
Elsewhere in Gaza City, witnesses reported seeing Israeli tanks in the south-western Tel al-Hawa and north-western Rimal neighbourhoods.
During a visit to Gaza City on Wednesday, the IDF's Chief of Staff Lt Gen Eyal Zamir said it was 'operating in the Gaza Strip with a large number of troops, with a focus on striking Gaza City to create conditions for the release of the hostages and for Hamas' decisive defeat'.
The general also stated that 'most of Gaza's population has already left Gaza City, and we are moving them southward for their safety'.
The situation remains dire for those remaining, as international officials warn that the humanitarian crisis is worsening with each passing day.
