Heavy Air Strikes Kill Dozens in Rafah

At least 52 people were killed in heavy air strikes on densely crowded Rafah in southern Gaza before dawn, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

Witnesses heard an intense series of strikes and saw smoke billowing above the city, which now hosts more than half of Gaza's total population after they fled bombardment elsewhere on the Strip.

The strikes hit 14 houses and three mosques in different parts of Rafah, according to the Hamas government.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it had "conducted a series of strikes on targets in the area of Shaboura in the southern Gaza Strip", adding that the strikes had concluded.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered his army to prepare a ground offensive on Rafah, Gaza's last major population center that troops have yet to enter after Hamas's October 7 attacks sparked the war.

About 1.4 million Palestinians have crowded into Rafah, with many living in tents while food, water and medicine are becoming increasingly scarce.

Hamas warned Israel that an offensive into Gaza's far-southern city of Rafah, crowded with displaced Palestinians, would threaten talks about the release of hostages seized in the October 7 attacks.

The United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation became the latest to raise alarm over the plan for Rafah, Gaza's last major population center that Israeli troops have yet to enter.

Renewed talks for a pause in the fighting have been held in Cairo, with Hamas open to a ceasefire, including a possible exchange of hostages for women and children held in Israeli prisons.

The army and the Shin Bet security agency said the underground facility "served as a significant asset of Hamas's military intelligence".

One room contained a collection of cables and three large metal cabinets that appeared to contain electronics.