The government media office said “thousands of displaced people” were using the school as a shelter when the strike hit, “most of them children and women”.
Nine children were among the 17 killed, with more than 52 injured, the media office added.
Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for Gaza’s civil defence agency, also told AFP that 17 people were killed and dozens wounded.
In recent weeks, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has hit several buildings being used as shelters across Gaza, saying it was targeting Hamas personnel and infrastructure.
Israel does not allow international media organisations – including the BBC – independent access to Gaza, making it difficult to verify facts on the ground, so we rely on information from video footage and testimonies, as well as Israeli and Hamas official statements.
In northern Gaza, the IDF has been intensifying a weeks-long offensive against what it said were Hamas fighters who had regrouped there.
At least 650 people have been killed since the new offensive in the north began, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The Israeli military said it was facilitating evacuations of civilians while it continued “operating against terrorists and terrorist infrastructure”.
But residents unwilling or unable to comply with Israeli evacuation orders are said to be living in increasingly desperate conditions, with food and other essential supplies running out.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that , externalduring the first three weeks of October, Israeli authorities permitted only four out of 70 coordinated aid missions to north Gaza.
The US warned Israel last week to urgently boost aid or risk having some military assistance cut off.
Cogat, the Israeli military body responsible for humanitarian affairs in Gaza, said that, external trucks carrying food, water and medical supplies had been transferred to the north over the past week.
OCHA said earlier this week that humanitarian access remains restricted.
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