Israeli airstrike kills eight including four women and a child as Hamas says IDF attacks have left 92 Palestinians dead in last 24 hours

An Israeli airstrike hit a house in Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah, killing at least eight people, including four women and a child, according to Health Ministry officials in Hamas-ruled Gaza.

The strike brings the total number of Palestinians killed by bombing in the last 24 hours to 92, the Health Ministry said.

It was also reported that the overall death toll in nearly five months of the war has risen to 29,606 and the total number of wounded has risen to nearly 70,000.

Although the ministry's death toll doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants, it has said two-thirds of those killed were children and women.

Search and rescue teams search for injured and killed Palestinians after Israeli forces hit a building and its surroundings in Rafah, Gaza

People gather in front of a building destroyed in the Rafah airstrike. At least eight people were killed

Palestinians help an injured man following the bombing in Rafah. Four women and a child were said to have been killed

Meanwhile, Israel claimed its troops have killed more than 10,000 Hamas fighters, but hasn't provided details.

Bodies of those killed in the airstrike were seen by independent journalists at Abu Youssef al-Najjar hospital.

Israel declared war after the deadly October 7 attack on southern Israel in which Hamas terrorists killed about 1,200 people and took around 250 hostages.

More than 100 hostages remain in captivity in Gaza.

The rising civilian death toll and worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza have amplified calls for a cease-fire.

Hunger and infectious diseases are spreading and about 80 per cent of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been displaced, with about 1.4 million crowded into Rafah on the border with Egypt.

'There are choking, skyrocketing prices. It's terrifying,' said Hassan Attwa, a displaced man from Gaza City who now shelters in a tent on the sand in Mawasi in the south.

'There is no source of income. The area is very overcrowded, the garbage, may God bless you, is not collected at all. It stays piled up.

'It turns into a mess and clay when it rains. The situation is disastrous in every sense of the word.'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to fight until 'total victory,' but dispatched a delegation to Paris to seek the release of hostages in exchange for a temporary truce.

Negotiators face wide gaps and an unofficial deadline - the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan around March 10.

It comes as Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said that he wouldn't give up his 'dignity for falsehood' amid calls for him to retract recent comments he made, accusing Israel of genocide.

The president compared Israel's conduct in Gaza to the Nazi Holocaust, in which six million Jews and others perished during World War II.

Palestinian artist Mahmoud Zuaiter inspects the ruins of his house after an air strike on the house in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on February 24

Medics transport a body to al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah following an Israeli air strike in Rafah refugee camp

'What the Israeli government is doing is not war, it is genocide,' he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. 'Children and women are being murdered.'

In response to Lula's initial comments, Israel declared him a persona non grata, summoned Brazil's ambassador and demanded an apology.

Lula then recalled Brazil's ambassador to Israel for consultations.

Last month, South Africa filed a landmark case with the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians.

The court issued a preliminary order two weeks later, ordering Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza.

Israel, created in part as a refuge for survivors of the Holocaust, has accused South Africa of hypocrisy.

South Africa has compared Israel's treatment of Palestinians in Gaza with the treatment of Black South Africans during apartheid, framing the issues as fundamentally about people oppressed in their homeland.

Brazil's president alleged Saturday that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians, doubling down on harsh rhetoric after stirring controversy a week ago by comparing Israel's military offensive in Gaza to the Nazi Holocaust.

Palestinians check destruction after an Israeli strike in Rafah, Gaza Strip on February 24

More destruction caused by Israeli strikes in Rafah. Israel claimed its troops have killed more than 10,000 Hamas fighters, but hasn't provided details

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (pictured) compared Israel to the Nazis 

Israel has vehemently pushed back against genocide claims made at the U.N.'s top court and elsewhere, saying its war targets the militant group Hamas, not the Palestinian people. 

It has held Hamas responsible for civilian deaths, arguing that the group operates from civilian areas.

An Israeli delegation returned from a meeting in Paris with negotiators from the United States, Egypt and Qatar to try to reach a deal on pausing the fighting, an Israeli official said. 

The delegation was expected to meet with high-ranking Cabinet members on Saturday, the official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. 

Egypt and Qatar are mediators between Israel and Hamas.