AN ISRAELI air strike hit a school sheltering thousands of displaced Palestinians, killing 11 people, just hours before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the UN his government “seeks peace.”

The Israeli military confirmed it struck the al-Falouja School in Jabalia refugee camp on Thursday, even as it turned its focus to Lebanon, saying it was targeting Hamas militants inside who were planning attacks on Israeli troops.

The claim could not be independently confirmed.

Footage showed rescue workers rushing casualties out of the school compound amid widespread debris and crowds of people.

One video showed men wrapping a mangled, severed torso in a plastic sheet and putting body parts into a cooler.

Israel forces have repeatedly struck schools, where tens of thousands of Palestinians are living after fleeing their homes, bringing heavy death tolls.

In the southern city of Khan Younis, authorities buried the bodies of 88 Palestinians that Israel had returned to the Gaza Strip a day earlier, in a mass grave.

A bulldozer dug a trench in one of the city cemeteries, then the bodies were laid inside in blue plastic bags before the bulldozer covered them with dirt.

Gaza’s Health Ministry denounced what it called the “inhumane and immoral” way Israel had treated the bodies, saying they were sent back piled in a truck with no information to identify them.

Addressing the UN general assembly today, Mr Netanyahu insisted Israel “seeks peace” but that its focus on “mopping up Hamas” remained.

“This war can come to an end now,” he said. “All that has to happen is for Hamas to surrender, lay down its arms and release all the hostages.

“But we will fight until we achieve total victory. There is no substitute for it.”