Dozens of people were reported killed and injured Wednesday as Israeli airstrikes targeted residential areas at Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp for a second day, according to Palestinian media.
The attacks come less than 24 hours after at least 50 people were confirmed killed while hundreds of others were injured in an earlier bombardment of the camp Tuesday night.
A large explosion ripped through the densely packed Jabalia camp before nightfall, tearing facades off nearby buildings and leaving a deep, debris-littered crater.
Wails filled the air as hundreds of bystanders and volunteers clawed at concrete blocks and twisted metal looking for survivors. Agence France-Presse (AFP) witnessed at least 47 corpses being recovered.
Horrified resident Ragheb Aqal, 41, likened the explosion to "an earthquake" and spoke of seeing "homes buried under the rubble and body parts and martyrs and wounded in huge numbers."
Israel claimed its warplanes had struck a "vast" tunnel complex at the site, killing a local resistance member Ibrahim Biari.
Military spokesman Jonathan Conricus described Biari as "pivotal in the planning and execution" of the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion.
Tuesday's strike is sure to fuel anger at Israel's prosecution of the war and the toll on Palestinian civilians.
Gaza's Health Ministry denounced the incident as "a heinous Israeli massacre" and said an initial toll of 50 dead and 150 wounded was sure to rise.
The ministry claims that in three-plus weeks of Israeli bombing has killed more than 8,700 people in Gaza, two-thirds of them women and children.
And Qatar warned that expanded strikes would "undermine mediation and de-escalation efforts."
Doha hosts several senior Hamas officials and is a key channel in trying to secure the release of some 240 hostages believed to have been taken by Palestinian militants on Oct. 7.
Saudi Arabia also criticized the strike, with its Foreign Ministry issuing a statement saying it condemned "in the strongest terms possible the inhumane targeting by the Israeli occupation forces of the Jabalia refugee camp."
But there is little sign of the conflict abating.
