Israeli warplanes staged an air strike early on Sunday in the southern Gaza Strip, targeting a fuel truck traveling outside Rafah near the Egyptian border, witnesses said.

The radio station of Hamas, the Islamist movement which controls the Gaza Strip, said several people had been killed and wounded, but local medics could not immediately confirm the information.

An Israeli military spokesperson in Tel-Aviv told AFP: "We are continuing our attacks against Hamas-related installations in the Gaza Strip."

He said Israeli aircraft had staged several air strikes throughout the night, including against a mosque in the Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City "where terrorists were being sheltered."

Israeli public radio said some 20 air strikes had been staged overnight.

Israeli warplanes hammered Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday in retaliation for rocket fire, killing at least 228 people in one of the bloodiest days of the decades-long Middle East conflict.

AFP