Gaza's Civil Defence agency said that the strike on the tents in the in Al-Mawasi area -- designated a humanitarian zone by the Israeli army -- killed 21 and injured 40, "most of them children, women and the elderly".

Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said that at least five children were among the dead, most of whose bodies were left completely burnt by fires caused by the bombing.

"We heard a huge explosion, so we rushed to the place. I saw fire and smoke in the area of the displaced people's tents, there was chaos everywhere," Mahmud Shurrab, 39, who lives in his home in Al-Mawasi, told AFP.

"The bodies were burned, limbs were everywhere, and there was a huge fire in dozens of tents," said Shurrab, who lost four family members in the strike.

AFP could not independently verify Shurrab's allegations, but saw the large fire caused by the bombings Wednesday night.

On Thursday, an AFP journalist saw a large crater several metres deep in the sandy ground caused by the bomb's impact, as well as piles of bent metal sheets that had been used for makeshift shelters.

Men carried a body away from the rubble wrapped in blankets used as a shroud.

The Israeli army told AFP that the strike targeted "senior Hamas terrorists who were involved in terrorist activities" in Al-Mawasi.

Eyewitnesses told AFP journalists on the ground that about 50 tents for the displaced were burned in fires caused by the strike.

"A missile explosion shook the area and a mass of flames and fire set the area alight," Ahmad al-Siqali, a displaced man in Khan Yunis told AFP as he stood surrounded by the remains of the shelters that previously housed displaced families.

"Seconds later the remains of the martyrs, women and children, who were safe in their tents, were scattered... in the streets and on top of the tents," Siqali added.

- A camp for the displaced -

Ezz el-Din Abu Subha, a civil defence agency paramedic who was dispatched to the site, said that after the first Israeli strike, "we were helping the injured and helping the citizens and also retrieving the bodies, and the place was targeted again."

"The place is full of tents for the displaced, sheltering people from all areas, most of them from different families displaced from Rafah, and each family has a tent," he added.

Al-Mawasi is a coastal area in Khan Yunis that Israeli forces unilaterally declared a humanitarian zone in the early days of the war, urging displaced Palestinians to move there.

As the nearly 14-month-long war has dragged on and nearly all of Gaza's 2.4 million inhabitants have been displaced, tents and makeshift shelters have covered the sandy area.

The area has repeatedly been hit by Israeli forces, including in major deadly strikes in September and July.

The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas's surprise October 7, 2023 attack which resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has resulted in at least 44,580 deaths, mostly civilians, according to data from the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, which the UN considers reliable.