An Israeli airstrike tore through a tent of Palestinian evacuees from Gaza on Wednesday, sparking fires and killing at least 21 people, according to the head of a nearby hospital, in the latest attack on the sprawling tent city Israel has designated as a safe haven for humanitarian aid. but direct often. A spokesman for the civil defense in Gaza said that five children were killed in the strike.
Israel’s military said it had struck senior Hamas militants involved in terrorist attacks in the area, without giving further details, saying it had taken precautionary measures to minimize casualties.
The tent strike in Muwasi is one of many attacks on people in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. An Israeli attack on central Gaza has killed at least 10 more people, including four children, according to Palestinian doctors.
Israel is destroying war in Gazalaunched after the Hamas attack in October 2023, shows no signs of ending after almost 14 months. Hamas still holds dozens of Israeli hostages, while the majority of Gaza’s population has been displaced and relies on international food aid to survive. Israel is also pressing for a major offensive in the far north, where experts say Palestinians are likely to face starvation.
The Biden administration has promised to make a new push for Gaza ends fighting now that there is a peace agreement in Lebanon between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah, ending more than a year of border fighting. Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump is demanding this week the release of those held hostage by Hamas before he is sworn into office in January.
Wednesday’s strike in Muwasi – a desolate area with few public services that houses hundreds of thousands of homeless people – injured at least 28 people, according to Atif al-Hout, director of Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis.
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 had mutilated limbs and others were badly burned.
“It was like a disaster,” said a woman who was injured, Iman Jumaa, holding back tears as she explained how the strike killed her father, brothers and her brothers’ children.
Videos and photos of the strike shared widely on social media showed flames and black smoke rising into the night sky, as well as twisted metal tent frames and torn fabric. Palestinian men rummaged through the burning rubble, shouting, “This way guys!” In the distance, the villagers stood at a distance, seeing the destruction.
The military said the strikes set off a second explosion, indicating that explosives had gone off in the area. The Israeli claims could not be independently verified, and the strikes may have ignited gasoline, cooking gas canisters or other items in the camp.
Shortly after the strike, Al-Awda Hospital said two people were killed and 38 injured in an attack on a residential area in the Nuseirat refugee camp. The military did not comment on the strike, but said previous strikes in central Gaza had hit “terrorist targets.”
Israel says it is trying to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths, saying the militants often operate in residential areas and are known to place tunnels, rocket launchers and other infrastructure near homes, schools and mosques.
Previous Israeli strikes on tent camps in Gaza have sparked widespread outrage around the world, such as when an injured student was caught on video burning to death in a tent outside a hospital.
In northern Gaza, dozens of Palestinian families said that the increase in Israeli attacks forced them out of schools that have become shelters. Associated Press photos showed people on the road Wednesday from Beit Lahia, many crammed into donkey carts with their belongings in their arms. Others were walking.
“This morning a quadcopter (drone) detonated four bombs in the school. There were injured people, human remains – we left empty-handed,” said Sadeia al-Rahel.
The 57-year-old said his family has been eating grass, leaves and animal feed for two months due to the lack of food in the north.
The amount of aid entering Gaza came in in October, and hunger is widespread, even in central Gaza where aid groups have greater access. Aid groups say Israeli restrictions, ongoing fighting and a breakdown in law and order make it difficult to deliver aid. Israel said it was working to increase the flow of aid.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 44,500 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which would not say how many were soldiers. The Israeli army claims to have killed more than 17,000 soldiers, without providing evidence.
The October 7, 2023, attack led by Hamas in southern Israel killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and about 250 people were taken hostage. Another 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are still alive believed to be dead.
On Wednesday, Israel said its forces had recovered the body of a hostage who was alive during the October 7 attack. Israel believes Itay Svirsky was killed by his captors.
Families of hostages held in Gaza have grown concerned that their loved ones are in danger as long as the war continues. The Israeli military released on Wednesday the findings of an investigation into the circumstances of the deaths of six hostages whose bodies were found in August, clarifying that they may have been shot by their captors after an imminent Israeli strike in February.
contributed to this report.
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