The Ministry of Health in Gaza said “large numbers” of killed and wounded on Saturday were arriving at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the majority of them children and women.

“Dozens of injured people are lying on the ground, and medical teams are trying to save them with the basic medical capabilities they have available,” it said, adding that it is short on medicine and food, and that its main generator has stopped functioning due to a lack of fuel.

A Health Ministry spokesman earlier said that there were still “a lot of” bodies and wounded people that remained on the streets.

Communications were affected amid the intense bombardment, but reporting from inside the “overwhelmed” hospital via a telephone call, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said the situation is tense, with terrified people on the street not knowing where to turn.

“There are explosions happening every minute. Ambulances are transferring the wounded to the hospital where we are trapped. It’s chaos inside the hospital. There are children among the wounded,” she said.

Dr Tanya Haj-Hassan, a paediatric intensive care doctor with Doctors Without Borders (MSF), described Al-Aqsa Hospital as a “complete bloodbath”, adding that it looked “like a slaughterhouse”.

The devastating attacks took place as Israeli forces conducted a rescue operation in Nuseirat to free four Israeli captives. At least one Israeli captive was killed in the operation.