At least 19 people have been killed and many wounded in an Israeli attack on a designated “safe zone” in southern Gaza, according to officials.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health said the bodies of the victims recovered so far were taken to hospitals after the missile attack on a tent camp in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis where Palestinians were sheltering, early on Tuesday. Israeli attacks have frequently hit areas where its military had previously directed civilians seeking safety.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Government Media Office in Gaza and the Palestinian Civil Defence had reported that at least 40 people were killed and more than 60 injured in the attack, with many others missing.

The Israeli military disputed the Palestinian figures and stated that the attack, which witnesses said involved at least four missile strikes, targeted a Hamas command centre, which the Palestinian armed group called a “blatant lie”.

“A number of victims are still under the rubble, under the sand, and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defence crews cannot reach them and retrieve them, and they have not reached hospitals yet,” the Health Ministry statement noted, revising the death toll.

Rescuers were shown sifting through the sand and rubble with garden tools and bare hands by the light of mobile phones. Body parts were pulled from the sand, including what appeared to be a human leg.

Israel’s war on Gaza has caused vast destruction and displaced about 90 percent of the enclave’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.

Israeli evacuation orders, which now cover much of the territory, have pushed hundreds of thousands of people into al-Mawasi. Aid groups have struggled to provide even basic services.