An Israeli air strike on a house in Gaza City killed a young girl and a woman late Tuesday, wounding 16 other people, local emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said.

Israel carried out a series of air strikes across the Gaza Strip in response to a string of Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel that torpedoed a 24-hour ceasefire meant to hold until 2100 GMT.

All the casualties are understood to be from the same family.

Witnesses told AFP that Israeli F16 jets fired at least three rockets at the house, close to offices of Hamas's Al-Aqsa broadcasting station.

"A woman and a child were martyred and another 16 are wounded," Qudra said.

Emergency workers feared that there were still people trapped under the rubble of the house, witnesses and an AFP reporter said.