An Israeli airstrike on Wednesday destroyed a tent camp of displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza, setting it on fire and killing at least 21 people, the director of a nearby hospital said, according to the director of a nearby hospital, which Israel has declared a humanitarian safe zone. At least 21 people were killed in recent attacks on the vast tent city. But it has been targeted repeatedly. A spokesman for the Gaza Civil Defense Authority said five children were killed in the attack.
The Israeli military did not provide additional details, but said it had attacked Hamas leaders involved in terrorist activities in the region and had taken precautions to minimize harm to civilians. Ta.
The attack on the Mwasi tent camp was one of several deadly attacks across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. At least 10 people, including four children, have been killed in an Israeli attack in central Gaza, Palestinian doctors say.
israel is devastated war in gazabegan after the Hamas attack in October 2023 and shows no signs of ending nearly 14 months later. Hamas still holds dozens of Israelis hostage, and most of Gaza’s residents have been forced to flee and rely on international food aid to survive. Israel has also launched a major offensive in the isolated north, and experts say Palestinians may be facing starvation.
The Biden administration is Gaza ceasefire A ceasefire agreement has now been signed between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, ending more than a year of cross-border fighting. Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump this week called for the release of hostages held by Hamas before his inauguration in January.
Atif al-Hout, director of Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, said at least 28 people were injured in Wednesday’s strike in Mwasi, a desolate area that hosts hundreds of thousands of displaced people and has few public services. did.
Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images
An Associated Press reporter at the hospital counted at least 15 bodies, but said it was difficult to get an exact number because many of the dead were dismembered and some had severe burns. .
“It felt like the end,” said injured woman Iman Jumaa, holding back tears as she described how her father, brother and her brother’s children died in the strike.
Videos and photos of the strike widely shared on social media showed flames and black smoke rising into the night sky, twisted metal tent frames and shredded fabric. Palestinian men searched the still-burning wreckage, shouting, “Here we are!” Further away, civilians were also standing at a distance, observing the destruction.
The military said the airstrike caused a secondary explosion, indicating that explosives in the area detonated. Israel’s claims cannot be independently confirmed, and the attack may have ignited fuel, cooking gas canisters and other items inside the camp.
Immediately after the attack, Al-Awda Hospital announced that two people had been killed and 38 others injured in the attack on a residential area in the Nuseyrat refugee camp. The military had no immediate comment on the attack, but said previous attacks in central Gaza had hit “terrorist targets”.
Israel says it is trying to avoid harm to civilians and blames Hamas for civilian deaths, saying the militants often operate in residential areas and have built tunnels and rockets near homes, schools and mosques. He said they are known to have installed launchers and other infrastructure.
Previous Israeli attacks on tent camps in the Gaza Strip have sparked widespread international outrage, with the last moments of injured students burned to death in tents outside hospitals captured on video.
Dozens of Palestinian families in northern Gaza say they have been forcibly evacuated from schools that have been turned into shelters due to Israel’s escalating attacks. Footage from the Associated Press showed people leaving Beit Lahia on the road Wednesday, many crowding into donkey carts with belongings in their arms. Others walked on foot.
“This morning, a quadcopter (drone) detonated four bombs at the school. People were injured and bodies were left behind. We left without anything,” said Sadaya Al Rahel. Ta.
The 57-year-old said her family has been living on grass, leaves and animal feed for two months due to lack of food aid in the north.
The amount of aid flowing into Gaza plummeted in October, and hunger has spread across the territory, even in central Gaza, where aid groups have more access. Humanitarian groups say Israeli restrictions, continued fighting and a breakdown in law and order are making it difficult to provide aid. Israel said it was working to increase aid flows.
Israeli attacks have killed more than 44,500 Palestinians in Gaza, the majority of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which did not say how many were fighters. The Israeli military claims, without providing evidence, that it has killed more than 17,000 militants.
On October 7, 2023, approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and approximately 250 people were abducted in an attack on southern Israel led by Hamas. About 100 hostages remain in Gaza, at least a third of them believed to be dead.
On Wednesday, Israel announced that its forces had recovered the bodies of hostages captured alive during the October 7 attack. Israel believes Itai Svirski was killed by his captors.
Families of hostages held in Gaza are increasingly concerned that their loved ones will be at risk as long as the war continues. The Israeli military on Wednesday announced the findings of an investigation into the circumstances behind the deaths of six hostages whose bodies were recovered in August, saying they may have been shot dead by their captors following an Israeli attack nearby in February. I judged it to be expensive.
contributed to this report.
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