Gaza City: The brittle ceasefire between Israel and Hamas collapsed just four hours after it began, with an Israeli soldier feared captured and Palestinians forced to flee their homes again as the sound of tank fire returned to Gaza.

Gaza's health ministry was calling for immediate international assistance on Friday to evacuate thousands of civilians trapped under heavy Israeli bombardment in Rafah, where at least 40 people have already been killed and more than 150 injured.

Palestinian women sit on the rubble of their home in Beit Hanoun. Credit:Hatem Moussa

A five-kilometre stretch of road between Salah Al-Eddin street and Al Najjar Hospital is under intense and indiscriminate artillery fire, ambulances are unable to reach the wounded, and thousands of civilians are trapped in their homes, the ministry said.

"We cannot reach the civilians to evacuate them, the wounded to provide medical care, or the dead to retrieve their bodies," it said.