Israeli airstrike kills dozens in Rafah area for displaced people, Gaza health officials say

Palestinian health and civil emergency service officials said at least 35 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike Sunday on the southern Gaza city of Rafah that hit tents for displaced people — an incident that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) says is under review.

The IDF said its air force struck a Hamas compound in Rafah and that the strike was carried out with "precise ammunition and on the basis of precise intelligence." The strike took out the Hamas chief of staff for the West Bank and another senior Hamas official behind deadly attacks on Israelis, the military said in a statement.

"The IDF is aware of reports indicating that as a result of the strike and fire that was ignited several civilians in the area were harmed. The incident is under review," the statement read.

The spokesperson for the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, Ashraf Al-Qidra, said 35 people were killed and dozens others, most of them women and children, were wounded in the attack.

The strike took place in Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood in western Rafah, where thousands of people were taking shelter after many fled the eastern areas of the city where Israeli forces began a ground offensive over two weeks ago.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said its field hospital in Rafah was receiving an influx of casualties, and that other hospitals also were taking in a large number of patients.

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri described the attack in Rafah as a "massacre," holding the United States responsible for aiding Israel with weapons and money.

"The air strikes burned the tents, the tents are melting and the people's bodies are also melting," said one of the residents who arrived at the Kuwaiti hospital in Rafah.

Earlier on Sunday, Hamas's armed wing said it launched a "big missile" attack on Tel Aviv as the Israeli military sounded sirens in the central city. Rocket sirens had not been heard in Tel Aviv for the past four months.

The Israeli military said eight projectiles were identified crossing from the area of Rafah, the southern tip of the Gaza Strip where Israel kept up operations despite a ruling by the top UN court on Friday ordering it to stop attacking the city.

A number of the projectiles were intercepted, it said. Israeli emergency medical services said they had received no reports of casualties.

The attack signalled that the militant group was still able to fire long-range rockets despite more than seven months of a devastating Israeli military offensive from the air and the ground. Rafah is located about 100 kilometres south of Tel Aviv.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was convening his war cabinet later on Sunday to discuss continued operations in Rafah. Israel argues that the UN court's ruling allows room for some military action there.

In a statement on its Telegram channel, the Hamas al-Qassam Brigades said the rockets were launched in response to "Zionist massacres against civilians."