Five civilians have been killed as Israel bombed a crowded Gaza refugee camp.

It was the second such targeted attack since it launched its a military offensive just before the weekend and brings the death toll to 31.

Gaza’s ruling Hamas group, which fought an 11-day war with Israel in May 2021, appeared to stay on the sidelines for now, possibly because it fears Israeli reprisals and undoing economic understandings with Israel, including work permits for thousands of Gaza residents.

Khaled Mansour, who was said to an 'Islamic Jihad commander' was killed in an air strike on an apartment building in the Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza late on Saturday.

Two other people and five civilians were also killed in the attack, bringing the Palestinian death toll to 31 since the start of the Israeli offensive on Friday.

Among the dead were six children and four women. The Palestinian Health Ministry said more than 250 people have been wounded since Friday.

On Sunday, a projectile hit a home in the same area of Jebaliya, killing two men. Palestinians held Israel responsible.

Mansour was in the apartment when the missile struck, flattening the three-storey building and badly damaging nearby houses.

“Suddenly, without warning, the house next to us was bombed and everything became black and dusty with smoke in the blink of an eye,” said Wissam Jouda, who lives next to the targeted building.

Ahmed al-Qaissi, another neighbour, said his wife and son were among the wounded, suffering shrapnel injuries. To make way for rescue workers, he agreed to have part of his house demolished.

The Rafah strike was the deadliest so far in the current round of fighting, which was initiated by Israel on Friday with the targeted killing of Islamic Jihad’s commander for northern Gaza.

Israel said it took action against the militant group because of 'concrete threats of an imminent attack', but would not provided details.

Asian Image:

Palestinians search through the rubble of a building following an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza strip, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022.

Caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid unleashed the offensive less than three months before a general election in which he is campaigning to keep the job.

The Israeli army claims militants in Gaza had fired 580 rockets towards Israel. The army said its air defences had intercepted many of them, with two of those shot down being fired towards Jerusalem.