AL-MAWASI (AFP) – Gaza’s civil defence agency said an Israeli strike yesterday on a humanitarian zone in the Palestinian territory killed 40 people, with the Israeli army saying it had targeted a Hamas command centre in the area.
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.
Israel’s military has occasionally carried out operations in and around the area, including a strike in July that it said killed Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, and which Gaza health authorities said killed more than 90 people. Gaza civil defence official Mohammed al-Mughair said 40 bodies and 60 wounded were taken to nearby hospitals following the strike in the early hours of yesterday.
“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 told AFP.
In another statement, civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal said 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.” Following the strike, survivors rushed to pull their belongings from the rubble, including mattresses and clothing, an AFP journalist saw.
“They told us to come to Al-Mawasi, so we came to Al-Mawasi, we settled here. The area was bombed without prior warning, they didn’t ask us to flee to a safer area or anything,” a Palestinian man told AFP.
