Gaza's health ministry on Wednesday published a new death toll from the war with Israel, showing an additional 970 deaths in 48 hours, after Israel intensified deadly strikes on the territory.

The death toll from the war at midday on Monday (1000 GMT) stood at 48,577.

By midday on Wednesday, the figure had risen to 49,547.

Israel launched a wave of strikes on Gaza overnight between Monday and Tuesday, by far the deadliest since a fragile truce began in January.

The health ministry also said that a foreign UN worker was killed and five others seriously injured Wednesday by an Israeli strike on their headquarters in the centre of the territory.

A statement from the health ministry said there was "one death and five severe injuries among foreign staff working for UN institutions... due to the bombing of their headquarters by the occupation in the central governorate a short while ago," adding they had been taken to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. 

AFP has not been able to confirm the information with the UN.

AFPTV footage from Deir el-Balah showed UN vehicles and an ambulance transporting three men to hospital.

Two of them appeared to have leg injuries and a third had bandages on both arms and abdomen, with traces of blood on his chest.

Two of the injured were wearing bulletproof vests, with one wearing a T-shirt of UNMAS, the United Nations Mine Action Service, underneath.

Gaza's civil defence agency said earlier Wednesday that 13 people had been killed in Israeli air strikes on the Palestinian territory since midnight.

Israel on Tuesday launched a wave of overnight strikes on Gaza, by far the deadliest since a fragile ceasefire came into force on January 19. 

The strikes killed more than 400 people, according to Gaza's health ministry, making it one of the deadliest days since the start of the war triggered by Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.