ISRAELI air strikes on a refugee camp near Gaza City killed dozens of people, levelled apartment buildings and left huge craters behind today as ground troops continued to push through the Strip.

At least six strikes flattened the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza; footage by news agency AFP following the explosion shows at least 47 bodies recovered from the rubble.

Dozens of people were searching for survivors at the time of writing.

The camp is the largest of Gaza’s eight refugee camps and contains 26 schools, a food distribution centre, two health centres, a library and seven water wells.

Several images by a Reuters photographer show dead or seriously injured children.

Just over 116,000 Palestinian refugees were registered there by the United Nations as of July.

Refugees began settling in the camp after the 1948 Nakba, as the forced expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians from their homes, which accompanied the establishment of the Israeli state, is known.

The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) did not immediately comment on the strike, but its latest operational update said its forces “struck a Hamas terrorist outpost in the northern Gaza Strip” in the last few hours.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres released a statement saying he is “deeply alarmed” by the intensification of attacks in Gaza, adding: “This includes the expansion of ground operations by the IDF accompanied by intense air strikes, and the continued rocket fire towards Israel from Gaza.”

Mr Guterres reiterated his call for a ceasefire so “unimpeded humanitarian access [can] be granted consistently.”

“International humanitarian law establishes clear rules that cannot be ignored,” he said.

“It is not an ‘a la carte’ menu and cannot be applied selectively.”

Earlier in the day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls for a ceasefire after it was announced that a hostage had been rescued from Hamas.

The IDF said Monday that special forces rescued one of the estimated 240 captives seized by the militants on October 7.

It said Ori Megidish, 19, was “doing well” and had been reunited with her family.

Hamas has released four hostages and has said it would let the others go in return for the thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, which has dismissed the offer, though relatives of the kidnapped called for the government to consider it on Saturday.

A clip of three hostages, released by Hamas on Monday, heard one of the women delivering an angry message to Mr Netanyahu for failing to protect Israeli civilians.

“You were supposed to free all of us. You committed to free us all. But instead, we are carrying your political, security, military, diplomatic failure,” she said.

A 10-page document bearing the stamp of the Israeli intelligence ministry and published today shows the department recommending the forcible and permanent displacement of Gazans to Egypt’s Sinai peninsula.