Palestinian health officials say Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza city of Rafah have killed at least 22, including six women and five children.

One of the children killed in the strikes overnight into Monday was a newborn baby of only five days of age.

“Everyone was sleeping in their beds,” said Mahmoud Abu Taha, whose cousin was killed with his wife and their year-old baby in a house where at least 10 died.

“They have nothing to do with anything.”

Britain Israel Palestinians
Pro-Palestinian protesters hold banners and placards ahead of a march in support of the Palestinian people in Gaza in London (Thomas Krych/AP)

Israel has regularly carried out airstrikes on Rafah since the start of the war and has threatened to send in ground troops as Israel claims the besieged city is the last major Hamas stronghold in Palestine.

Over a million Palestinians have sought refuge in the city. The US and others have urged Israel not to invade the city, fearing a humanitarian catastrophe.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday began his seventh diplomatic mission to the Middle East since the Israel-Hamas war began in October.

The Israel-Hamas war was sparked by a Hamas attack on October 7 in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages.

Israel claims Hamas still gave 100 people hostage, as well as the remains of a further 30 who have died since October 7.

In return, Israel deployed a full-scale military offence on the Gaza Strip, killing more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials.

Two-thirds of the thousands killed are women and children.

The war has driven around 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million from their homes, caused vast destruction in several towns and cities, and pushed northern Gaza to the brink of famine as Israel blocked aid from entering the enclave.

Israeli officials also are understood to be increasingly concerned that the International Criminal Court may issue arrest warrants against the country’s leaders for possible war crimes committed in the conflict, dating back to as far as the 2014 Israel-Hamas war.

AP reports that there was no indication such warrants were imminent. There was no comment from the court on Monday.