GAZA: The Palestinian Mayor of central Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp, Iyad al-Mughari, was killed in an Israeli airstrike, Palestinian medical and security sources have said.

The mayor was killed, along with a number of his family members, as an Israeli attack targeted a building in the camp on Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported, citing Palestinian security sources.

Medical sources said al-Mughari's body was transferred to al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah city in central Gaza.

Al-Mughari, one of the cadres of the Hamas movement, was appointed mayor by acclamation, the sources noted.

The killing of al-Mughari came hours after the killing of about 35 Palestinians in an Israeli attack on a school affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, which was housing displaced people in the Nuseirat camp.

Israel said Hamas and Islamic Jihad "terrorists" were embedded themselves inside the school, and a number of steps had been taken to reduce the risk of harming uninvolved civilians.

The Israeli army has been conducting a large-scale offensive on Gaza since October 7, 2023, after Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack on the Israeli towns adjacent to the strip, during which approximately 1,200 people were killed and about 250 others were taken hostage.

The Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks in the enclave has risen to 36,654, with 83,309 people injured, updated the Gaza health authorities on Thursday.