"These five attacks yesterday hit all the right targets accurately," said the officer, speaking to journalists here on condition of anonymity.

Palestinian medical sources say 10 people were killed and some 70 others injured in the five strikes Monday.

The deadliest attack hit late Monday in Nusseirat refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip, where seven Palestinians were killed and 40 wounded, 10 of them seriously, according to Palestinian sources.

An Apache combat helicopter scored a direct hit on a car with a missile, witnesses said, adding that the target was a local leader of Hamas' armed wing, who apparently survived while other passengers were wounded.

A second missile struck and killed residents who came to the rescue of the passengers, the witnesses said. Zein Shahin, a 30-year-old doctor who arrived at the scene by ambulance, was among the dead.

But the officer who aired footage from an unmanned drone of the Nusseirat strike, said that "they exaggerate by far the number of dead and injured," without offering any alternative toll.

A military spokesman also said six of those killed on Monday were members of the radical Islamic movement Hamas.

The scale of the attacks and casualties has caused unease among Israeli circles, with one cabinet minister calling on the government to apologise for hitting civilians.

The officer disputed the idea that there were many civilians in the area during the Nusseirat strikes.

"We would not allow any munitions to be launched into a massive gathering of people. We have never done it and did not do it this time," he said.

"Looking for targets in urban areas is not a great pleasure but we are fighting to defend our people."

WAR.WIRE