Israeli air strikes targeted homes in southern Gaza, witnesses have said, with the health ministry saying more than 100 people were killed over the previous day.

According to AFP, Israeli bombardment destroyed one house and left a gaping hole in the earth east of Rafah, on the border with Egypt, where about 1.4 million Gazans have converged in a futile search to escape the fighting.

“We were sleeping in our house when we heard the sound of a missile,” said Abdul Hamid Abu el-Enein. “We rushed to the site and found people martyred and injured” in the strike which “completely erased” the two-storey home.

An Israeli air strike on Friday destroyed the home of well-known Palestinian comedian Mahmoud Zuaiter in Gaza, killing at least 23 people and injuring dozens more, according to the Gaza health ministry. Most of the victims were women and children, it added.