A wave of Israeli air strikes has hit multiple encampments for displaced Palestinians across the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, killing dozens of people, according to the enclave’s civil defence agency.

Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said Israel’s targets overnight included several tents in the al-Mawasi area of the southern city of Khan Younis.

“At least 16 martyrs [were killed], most of them women and children, and 23 others were wounded following a direct strike by two Israeli missiles on several tents housing displaced families in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis,” Bassal told the AFP news agency.

The al-Mawasi area was designated by Israel as a so-called “humanitarian zone”.

Seven others were killed in an attack on tents in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, while another attack near the al-Mawasi area killed a father and his child who were living in a tent, Bassal said.