At least 35 Palestinians were killed and dozens were wounded on Sunday when Israeli airstrikes hit a "humanitarian area" in the Gaza city of Rafah where thousands fled a ground offensive by Israel's military, according to reports. 

The attack struck tents in a camp for displaced people, leaving "numerous" victims trapped in the flaming debris, the Associated Press reported.

"The air strikes burnt the tents, the tents are melting and the people's bodies are also melting," a resident who arrived at the Kuwaiti hospital in Rafah told Reuters.

Women and children comprised most of the casualties, according to Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry. 

A spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said more fatalities were expected as search and rescue efforts continued in the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood about a mile northwest of Rafah's center.

The society also said Israel had designated the site as a "humanitarian area" and it wasn't among the places that the Israeli military ordered evacuated earlier this month, AP said.

Israel's army confirmed the strike, saying it hit a Hamas compound and killed the group's chief of staff for the West Bank and another senior official responsible for deadly attacks on Israelis.

The Israeli army also acknowledged reports of civilian casualties and said it was investigating.

Video footage from the scene showed heavy destruction, AP said.

The carnage came two days after the United Nations' International Court of Justice ordered Israel to end its operations in Rafah, where more than half of Gaza's population fled before the ground offensive began earlier this month.

It was also reported hours after Hamas fired a barrage of rockets that set off air raid sirens as far away as Tel Aviv for the first time since January.

There were no reports of casualties from what Israel said were eight projectiles launched from Rafah.

Some of the rockets were intercepted and the launcher was destroyed, according to Israel.

Israeli tanks have probed around the edges of Rafah and entered some of its eastern districts but haven't pressed further into the city since the start of a ground offensive there earlier this month, Reuters said, citing local residents.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was in Rafah on Sunday and was briefed on "operations above and below the ground, as well as the deepening of operations in additional areas with the aim of dismantling Hamas battalions," his office said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was scheduled to discuss continued operations in Rafah with war cabinet later Sunday.

About 36,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza since Netanyahu vowed to vowed to destroy Hamas over its Oct. 7 surprise attack in which about 1,200 people in Israel were killed and 250 were taken hostage.

About 120 hostages, including some Americans, are believed to still be held by Hamas.