Israeli air strikes on a so-called "humanitarian zone" in Gaza's al-Mawasi killed at least 40 people on Tuesday, according to health authorities in the besieged enclave.

The strikes targeted at least 20 tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in the coastal area, an ever-shrinking area near the southern city of Khan Younis.

Eyewitnesses told the AFP news agency that at least five rockets fell in the area, with emergency services saying the strikes created craters up to nine meters deep.

The Israeli army claimed it attacked a Hamas command center "disguised in the humanitarian area in Khan Younis" and that "many steps were taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians, including the use of precision weaponry, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence information."

It did not share any evidence to back up its claim.

Hamas denied these allegations, saying, "The claims of the fascist occupation army about the presence of resistance elements at the targeted site are a blatant lie."

Gaza's civil defense said that the Israeli army used "heavy concussion missiles" and estimated that it was "one of the most horrific massacres since the beginning of the Israeli war on Gaza."

Footage from the direct aftermath showed Palestinians desperately digging for their loved ones in the deep craters, with the civil defense saying “entire families” had “disappeared” in the sand.

Nearly all of Gaza's population of 2.3 million have been repeatedly displaced due to ongoing Israeli attacks, with many of them heading to what Israel described as a "humanitarian zone" on the southern part of the enclave.

Israel repeatedly reduces the area of the humanitarian zone, claiming some places in it were used by Hamas, forcing Palestinians to move to an ever-shrinking area that has also been bombed by Israel in the past.

Human rights groups and UN experts have accused Israel of collective punishment against Palestinians since the Hamas-led attack on October 7, including the use of starvation as a weapon of war.

Since then, Israeli forces have killed more than 40,000 Palestinians in the enclave, the majority of whom are women and children.