DEIR AL-BALAH (AP) – Palestinian medical officials said two Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 14 people, including two children and a woman, most in an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone.
One strike late on Monday hit a makeshift cafeteria used by displaced people in Muwasi, the centre of the so-called humanitarian zone.
At least 11 people were killed, including two children, according to officials at Nasser Hospital, where the casualties were taken.
Video from the scene showed men pulling bloodied wounded from among tables and chairs set up in the sand in an enclosure made of corrugated metal sheets.
The strike came hours after the Israeli military announced an expansion of the zone, where it has told Palestinians evacuating from other parts of Gaza to take refuge.
Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are sheltering in sprawling tent camps in and around Muwasi, a largely desolate area of dunes and agricultural fields with few facilities or services along the Mediterranean coast of southern Gaza.
Israel faces a deadline this week for the Biden administration’s ultimatum for it to allow more aid into Gaza or risk possible restrictions on United States (US) military funding.
Israel has announced a series of steps toward improving the situation, including the zone’s expansion.
But US officials recently signalled Israel still isn’t doing enough, though they have not said if they will take any action against it.
A group of eight international aid agencies said in a report issued yesterday that Israel has failed to meet the US demands.
Another strike early yesterday hit a house in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing three people including a woman, according to al-Awda Hospital, which received the casualties. The strike also wounded 11 others, it said.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on either strike.
Israel’s 13-month-old campaign in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities who don’t distinguish between civilians and militants in their count, but said more than half the dead were women and children.
