'Dozens killed' in Israeli strikes on encampment in Gaza humanitarian zone, as IDF says it was targeting Hamas

10 September 2024, 05:49

At least 40 people have been killed by an Israeli air strike on a camp for people forced to flee southern Gaza, according to Palestinian authorities.

A further 60 people were hurt in the strike on an encampment near Khan Younis in the central Gaza strip, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported, citing local officials.

The Israeli military said by contrast that the strike had been targeting Hamas terrorists and they had taken "numerous steps" to avoid harming civilians.

Gaza's civil emergency service said four missiles hit the encampment in the Mawasi coastal area in the early hours of Tuesday, with at least 20 tents catching fire.

Craters as deep as nine metres were left by the strikes, according to the Palestinian officials.

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Mawasi has been designated a humanitarian zone by Israel.

Israel said that it hit "significant Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command-and-control center".

They added: "The terrorists advanced and carried out terror attacks against IDF troops and the state of Israel.

"Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional means."

Hamas issued a statement denying that its militants were operating in the encampment, though Israel long has accused it and other terror groups of hiding in civilian populations.

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It comes after Israeli air strike in Gaza early on Sunday killed five people, including two women, two children and a senior official in the Civil Defence emergency service.

The Civil Defence said the strike targeted the home of its deputy director for north Gaza, Mohammed Morsi, in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp.

Gaza's Health Ministry says more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war erupted 11 months ago. It does not say how many were fighters and how many civilians.

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Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the October 7 attack on Israel.

They abducted another 250, and are still holding around 100 of them after releasing most of the rest in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel during a weeklong ceasefire last November.

Around a third of the remaining hostages inside Gaza are believed to be dead.

The United States, Qatar and Egypt have spent months trying to broker a ceasefire and the return of the hostages, but the negotiations have repeatedly bogged down.