Israeli strike on Gaza’s al-Mawasi ‘safe zone’ kills many

At least 19 people have been killed and many wounded in an Israeli strike on a designated “safe zone” in southern Gaza, according to officials.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the bodies of the victims recovered so far had arrived in hospitals after the missile attack on a tent camp in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, where Palestinians were sheltering, early on Tuesday. Israeli attacks have frequently hit areas where its military had previously directed civilians seeking safety.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Government Media Office in Gaza, as well as civil defence authorities, had reported that at least 40 people had been killed and more than 60 injured in the attack, with many also missing.

The Israeli military had argued with the original figures reported, and stated that the attack, which witnesses said involved at least four missile strikes, targeted a Hamas command centre. The Palestinian armed group branded that a “blatant lie”.

“A number of victims are still under the rubble, under the sand, and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them and retrieve them, and they have not reached hospitals yet,” the health ministry statement noted, while reporting the lower death toll.

Rescuers were shown sifting through the sand and rubble with garden tools and bare hands by the light of mobile phones. Body parts were pulled from the sand, including what appeared to be a human leg.

Israel’s war on Gaza has caused vast destruction and displaced about 90 percent of the enclave’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.

Israeli evacuation orders, which now cover much of the territory, have pushed hundreds of thousands of people into al-Mawasi. Aid groups have struggled to provide even basic services.

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