The Magen David Adom emergency service said: "In the Beit Shemesh area, MDA EMTs and paramedics have pronounced the deaths of nine" people, as well as 28 others injured, with police saying it was a direct hit on a building.

Dozens of Israeli rescue personnel were deployed to the site of the impact, and an AFP photographer saw teams removing a body from the rubble of the building that bore the brunt of the missile strike.

"They are bringing all kinds of equipment to try to locate people," said another AFP photographer at the scene of the attack.

"Apparently, there are still people underneath," he added, as rescue teams continued their search.

Photographs from the scene showed a house destroyed by the blast, its roof reduced to mangled concrete and twisted iron bars.

Rescue teams continued searching for survivors beneath the debris.

"When I arrived, I saw a terrible scene," Yehuda Shlomo, an MDA paramedic, said in a statement.

"I saw heavy structural damage, smoke in the air, and a great deal of chaos, with dozens of frightened casualties emerging from damaged buildings."