More than 20 people have been killed in Israeli tank shelling on a tent camp in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials.

It comes amid widespread outrage over Israel’s bombing two days earlier of another camp where at least 45 lives were lost.

On Tuesday, four tank shells hit a cluster of tents for displaced families in a designated humanitarian zone in al Mawasi, western Rafah, killing 21 people, emergency services told Reuters.

At least 12 of the victims were women, medical officials said.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it did not strike in the humanitarian area of al Mawasi.

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Israel had launched an airstrike on the Tel al Sultan area of western Rafah on Sunday night that ignited a fire in a camp for displaced Palestinians. At least 45 people, around half of them women and children, were killed, according to local health officials.

The deadly bombing sparked global condemnation. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a “tragic mistake”.

The Israeli military on Tuesday claimed its initial investigation into the strike indicated the fire was caused by a secondary explosion.

Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the chief military spokesman, claimed Israel’s military fired two 17kg munitions that targeted two senior Hamas militants.

He claimed the munitions would have been too small to ignite a fire on their own, and that the military was looking into the possibility that weapons were stored in the area.

It has not been possible to independently verify his claims.

The fire triggered by the bombing also could have ignited fuel, cooking gas canisters or other materials in the densely populated tent camp housing displaced people.

Israel’s closest allies have been among those who have strongly condemned the killings.

Nearly a million have been forced to flee Rafah since Israel launched an incursion there in early May. Most of the people had already been displaced by Israeli attacks.

They now seek refuge in squalid tent camps and other war-ravaged areas.

The US and other close allies of Israel have warned against a fully-fledged offensive in the city, with the Biden administration saying that would cross a red line and refusing to provide offensive arms for such an operation.

On Friday, the International Court of Justice – the UN’s top court – ordered Israel to halt its Rafah offensive – although Israel looks set to ignore the demand.

Israel claims it is carrying out limited operations in eastern Rafah along the Gaza-Egypt border, although residents also reported heavy bombardment overnight in western parts of Rafah.

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Sayed al Masri, a Rafah resident, said many families had been forced to flee their homes and shelters, with most heading for the crowded area of al Mawasi, where giant tent camps have been set up on a barren coastline, or to Khan Younis, a southern city that suffered heavy damage during months of fighting.

Gaza’s health ministry said two medical facilities in Tel al Sultan were out of service because of intense bombing nearby.

Medical Aid for Palestinians, a charity operating throughout the territory, said the Tel al Sultan medical centre and the Indonesian Field Hospital were under lockdown, with medics, patients and displaced people trapped inside.

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Most of Gaza’s hospitals are no longer functioning. The Kuwait Hospital in Rafah shut down on Monday after a strike near its entrance killed two health workers.

A spokesperson for the World Health Organisation said the casualties from Sunday’s strike and fire “absolutely overwhelmed” field hospitals in the area, which were already running short on supplies to treat severe burns.

The Israeli offensive began after Hamas and other militants burst into southern Israel in a surprise attack on 7 October, killing around 1,200 people and abducting around 250 others. More than 100 were released during a ceasefire in November in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

Israel responded to the attack with a huge air and land offensive that has killed at least 36,096 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Around 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has been displaced and United Nations officials say parts of the territory are experiencing famine.

After a bumpy start to the Tory election campaign, day six has been somewhat smoother for Rishi Sunak.

That’s not to say the Conservative election machine isn’t on the lookout for potential missteps though.

During a TV interview in the changing room of a bowls club in Leicestershire, a hat was strategically placed to cover a name tag adorned with the blush-worthy surname “Glasscock”.

While at a homeware factory in Staffordshire, a Tory aide spotted and swiftly removed a can of Monster energy drink from a worktop where the prime minister was about to inspect some ceramics.

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Amid a slanging match over leaders taking ‘duvet days’ early in the campaign, a photo of the Tory leader next to a giant caffeine-stuffed beverage is probably not the message the party wants to send out.

A Q&A session with staff at the factory caused little controversy.

Mr Sunak’s plan for a revamped national service came in for praise with one woman saying her two older sons would benefit from it, before adding in a brutally frank fashion “but they are more brawn than brains”.

A man who proclaimed himself the “number one forklift truck driver” asked if there could be an extra Bank Holiday for St George’s Day.

A question deftly dodged by the visiting politician.

After being drenched while announcing the election, the rain even cleared just in time for the prime minister to play a game of bowls with some pensioners in Market Bosworth.

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With a backdrop of bunting and portraits of the late Queen, this should be safe Tory territory – especially for a leader promising tax cuts for retirees.

And to be fair, he was met with a cheer when he entered the clubhouse.

But speaking to members after – a familiar sense of inevitability started to emerge.

One man said Mr Sunak seemed a decent enough man before adding “but the country wants change… the Labour Party have got things together just as the Tories have fallen apart”.

Back on the bowling green, things started looking up for the prime minister.

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After a couple of ropey throws of his specially selected blue bowls, Mr Sunak eventually turned things around and ended up clinching victory.

Insert your political parallels here.

But it’s worth saying that only happened after the local Tory MP knocked club president Brenda’s bowl out of play.

A backbencher coming to the prime minister’s rescue. There’s something you don’t see much of nowadays.

A “jealous” man who stabbed his pregnant ex-partner after stalking her for weeks has been jailed for attempted murder – after a court heard how his victim was convinced he would kill her and her unborn child.

Daniel Mihai Popescu, of no fixed abode, previously pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of Andreea Pintili in Aberfan, Merthyr Tydfil, last December.

Ms Pintilii was 37 weeks pregnant at the time of the attack.

The 29-year-old also pleaded guilty to stalking Ms Pintili between 25 October and 6 December 2023.

He was sentenced to 17 years and four months in prison and a further three years on licence as part of an extended sentence. He denied an additional charge of intimidating a witness.

Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard on Wednesday afternoon that Popescu had been in a relationship with Andreea Pintili since about September 2020.

The prosecution said Popescu then developed a “gambling habit” and the couple separated around the time of August 2023.

Prosecuting, John Hipkin said Popescu had become “obsessed” with Ms Pintili in the months before the attack.

In one incident, on 31 October, Popescu “left two bags of his clothing outside her address”.

“He proceeded to leave her a voicemail saying, ‘Don’t touch my clothes, I’m not going from the street until you get back together with me’,” Mr Hipkin said.

“He then repeatedly knocked her window. As a result of this, the defendant was arrested and released on bail, with a condition not to contact Andreea Pintili.”

Victim ‘tried to break free’

Ms Pintili then moved to the Aberfan area but Popescu found out.

At the time, he had been staying with a man called Stephen Phillips.

The prosecution said Mr Phillips had noted how Popescu had become “agitated and annoyed over a period of time” and that he had told him he was “going to stab his ex-girlfriend’s new partner”.

“On 5 December, the defendant travelled to Moy Road, Aberfan, where Andreea Pintili was then living,” Mr Hipkin added.

“The defendant had armed himself with a knife from the address at which he was staying. The knife had a seven-to-eight-inch blade.”

Local schools and nurseries were placed under a precautionary lockdown for several hours when Popescu attacked Ms Pintili on 5 December 2023.

Officers from South Wales Police were called shortly before 9.10am to reports of a woman having been stabbed in Moy Road.

Ms Pintili sustained three superficial injuries to her thumb and two penetrating wounds to her back.

Scans revealed that her unborn child’s signs of life were normal and she was discharged from the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff the following day.

The court was shown two pieces of footage, a 19-second clip which appeared to show Popescu crouching behind a vehicle with a knife in his hand, and another which showed the attack itself.

“The defendant told her that he had a knife and was going to kill her,” Mr Hipkin told the court.

“She tried to break free but fell to the floor. The defendant then proceeded to stab her a number of times.

“Perhaps fortunately a woman named Kira Terrett was walking her dog nearby. She screamed and ran to try and help and with that the defendant then ran off.”

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‘He wasn’t going to stop until he killed me and my unborn child’

In a victim’s statement read out in court on her behalf, Ms Pintili said she felt “lucky to be alive after this harrowing experience”.

“I have no doubt that, had he got me into the house, he would have killed me. This was clearly his intention that day, to kill me and my unborn child,” she added.

“He was very jealous and couldn’t handle the fact we’d split up and I had no intention of ever getting back with him. He wasn’t going to stop until he killed me.”

She said the attack had left her feeling “very anxious when leaving the house” and that she had to “relive this day over and over”.

In mitigation, Mr David Aubrey KC said Popescu entered a guilty plea and that he “desisted from the attack”.

Mr Aubrey also told the court that Popescu suffers from “low mood and anxiety”.

“He has expressed his remorse and regret, which is genuine,” he added.

But, while mitigating, Mr Aubrey said he did not seek to “minimise the terror that the victim experienced at the time of the attack”.

Sentencing Popescu, Judge Lloyd-Clarke said Popescu felt “very little true remorse”.

“In my judgement, the aggravating factors outweigh the mitigating factors,” she added.

Popescu was forbidden from contacting Ms Pintili or any of her children and was also banned from entering Merthyr Tydfil.