Several killed in fighting at Gaza compound, Hamas and Israel say

Numerous Palestinians were killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, with Israel saying eight members of the militant Palestinian group Hamas - including a commander - died in an attack on a compound.

According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, 33 people were killed and 67 others injured in fighting in the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours.

Israel's army said the Hamas compound it attacked in the city of Gaza was located near the al-Ahli hospital.

It added that a Hamas commander, who was allegedly involved in the large-scale terrorist attack on Israel on October 7 which sparked the war, was among those killed.

Ahmed Fosi Nasir Mohammad Wadia had allegedly paraglided into Israel on October 7 and ordered the massacre of civilians in a border town.

More than 1,200 were killed in the October attack while the Gaza health authority says at least 40,819 people have died in the coastal strip so far following Israel's armed response.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) also said that it had destroyed a Hamas tunnel more than a kilometre long in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza.

None of either side's claims could initially be independently verified.