Nearly 40 died and over 60 got injured in an Israeli strike on a humanitarian zone in the south of the Palestinian territory on Tuesday, as per Gaza’s civil defence agency.
The strike hit Al-Mawasi, which is Gaza’s main southern city of Khan Yunis.
It was designated a safe zone by the Israeli military early in the war, with tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians seeking refuge there.
However, it has been learnt that Israel’s military has occasionally carried out operations in and around the area. This includes a strike in July that it said killed Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif.
Gaza civil defence official Mohammed Al-Mughair said that on Tuesday, “40 martyrs and 60 injured were recovered and transferred” to nearby hospitals following the overnight strike.
“Our crews are still working to recover 15 missing people as a result of targeting the tents of the displaced in Mawasi, Khan Yunis,” Mughair added.
In a separate statement, civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal said that people sheltering in the camp had not been warned of the strike, adding a shortage of tools and equipment was hindering rescue operations.
“More than 20 to 40 tents were completely damaged,” he said, adding the strike left behind “three deep craters”.
“There are entire families who disappeared under the sand in the Mawasi Khan Yunis massacre.”
On the other hand, the Israeli military said in a statement early Tuesday that its aircraft had “struck significant Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command and control centre embedded inside the Humanitarian Area in Khan Yunis.”
“The terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip continue to systematically abuse civilian and humanitarian infrastructure, including the designated Humanitarian Area, to carry out terrorist activity against the State of Israel and IDF troops,” it added.
Hamas said in a statement on Tuesday that claims its fighters were present at the scene of the strike were “a blatant lie”.
Over the course of the war, Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields, an accusation the group denies.
Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, including some hostages killed in captivity, official Israeli figures show.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt have been mediating in efforts to forge a ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas.
But talks remain stalled as Hamas is demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza as part of any deal, but Israel insists troops must remain along the Gaza-Egypt border.
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