Tents sheltering Palestinians in al-Mawasi Khan Younis area attacked, Gaza Civil Defense says.
At least 40 people were killed and 60 wounded in an Israeli attack on a tent camp for displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza, civil emergency authorities in the enclave said.
At least 20 tents in the al-Mawasi Khan Younis area were hit in the Tuesday morning attack, Gaza Civil Defense said.
Al-Mawasi has been crowded with Palestinians sleeping in tents since the Israeli military designated the coastal area a “safe zone” during its ground incursions into Khan Younis and nearby Rafah.
Rescuers searching for survivors said they found craters up to 9 meters deep in the tent camp, Al Jazeera Arabic reported, citing local sources.
Witnesses described chaotic scenes in the area, with fires burning as Israeli reconnaissance planes circled overhead.
A spokesman for Gaza’s civil defense said an initial assessment of the site suggested the attack was “one of the most heinous massacres in this raging war”.
A spokesman said ambulance and civil defense crews were having difficulty recovering the bodies of people killed in the attack.
Israeli authorities said they struck “significant Hamas terrorists” who were operating in a command and control center in the humanitarian zone in Khan Younis.
“Terrorists advanced and carried out terrorist attacks against (Israeli army) units and the State of Israel,” Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement released on X.
“Numerous steps were taken prior to the strike to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians, including the use of precision munitions, aerial surveillance and other means.”
Hamas, the Palestinian group that rules Gaza, denied its fighters were present in the targeted area and accused Israeli authorities of perpetuating lies to justify their “heinous crimes”.
“The resistance has repeatedly denied that any of its members exist in civilian gatherings or use these places for military purposes,” Hamas said in a statement.
