An Israeli strike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in Gaza killed at least 19 people and wounded 60 early on Tuesday, Palestinian officials said
The strike hit Al-Mawasi — in Gaza’s main southern city of Khan Yunis — which was designated a safe zone by the Israeli military early in the war, with tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians seeking refuge there.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said it confirmed that at least 19 people were killed in the strike, and that the toll may rise as more bodies are recovered. The Civil Defense, first responders who operate under the government, had earlier said 40 people were killed.
In a separate statement, civil defense 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.
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 center embedded inside the Humanitarian Area in Khan Yunis”.
Hamas said in a statement on Tuesday that claims its fighters were present at the scene of the strike were “a blatant lie”.
Shrinking Safe Zone
The UN human rights office says most of the dead are women and children.
The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once during nearly a year of war, according to the United Nations.
From 1,200 inhabitants per square kilometer before the war, the Al-Mawasi humanitarian zone now houses “between 30,000 and 34,000 people per square kilometer”, and its protected area shrank from 50 square kilometers to 41, the UN has calculated.
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.
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.
With AFP
