Gaza and West Bank officials said Israeli strikes on a centre for displaced people killed dozens in a “massacre” near the southern city of Rafah on Sunday, while the Israeli army said it had targeted Hamas fighters, AFP reports.

The health ministry in the territory said in a statement that the strikes “claimed the lives of 35 martyrs and left dozens injured, most of them children and women”.

The government media office in Gaza earlier said the strike hit a centre run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees near Rafah, branding it a “horrific massacre”.

Israel’s army said its aircraft “struck a Hamas compound in Rafah”, killing Yassin Rabia and Khaled Nagar, both senior officials for the Palestinian militant group in the occupied West Bank.

It added that it was “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.”

Israel’s army said Sunday at least eight rockets were fired towards central areas of the country from Rafah, with strikes targeting the commercial hub of Tel Aviv for the first time in months.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said its ambulance crews transported “a large number” of people killed and injured in the Rafah strikes.

The Palestinian presidency in the West Bank called it a “heinous massacre”, accusing Israeli forces of “deliberately targeting” the tents of displaced people. Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed and wounded at least 50 people in the area, where it said 100,000 displaced people live.

Hamas said Palestinians must “rise up and march” against the Israeli army’s “massacre” in Rafah.