People in panic after Israeli strikes on Al-Mawasi refugee camp. Screengrab of video circulated on social media
Civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said two Israeli missiles struck several tents in the Al-Mawasi area of southern Khan Younis, killing at least 16 people, "mostly women and children," and wounding 23 others.
Al-Mawasi had been declared a safe zone by Israel in December 2023, drawing tens of thousands of Palestinians seeking refuge from ongoing Israeli strikes. Despite this, the area has been repeatedly hit by Israeli missiles.
Survivors said a devastating explosion from the Israeli strikes at the densely packed camp set multiple tents ablaze.
"We were sitting peacefully in the tent, under God's protection, when we suddenly saw something red glowing -- and then the tent exploded, and the surrounding tents caught fire," Israa Abu al-Rus told AFP.
"This is supposed to be a safe area in Al-Mawasi," Abu al-Rus said. "We fled the tent towards the sea and saw the tents burning."
Bassal said that Israeli strikes on two other encampments of displaced Gazans killed a further nine people -- seven in the northern town of Beit Lahia, and a father and son near Al-Mawasi.
Separately, the civil defence reported two more attacks on displaced people in Jabalia -- one that killed at least seven members of the Asaliya family, and another that killed six people at a school being used as a shelter -- as well as Israeli shelling in Gaza City that killed two.
Israel said Wednesday that it had converted 30 percent of Gaza into a buffer zone in the genocidal war it resumed in March, ending a two-month ceasefire.
Defence Minister Israel Katz said this month that the military was leaving Gaza "smaller and more isolated".
The United Nations said half a million Palestinians have been displaced since the Gaza war resumed, triggering what it has described as the most severe humanitarian crisis since the war began on 7 October 2023.
"Every single person in Gaza is relying on humanitarian aid to survive," the chief executives of 12 NGOs, including Oxfam and Save the Children, wrote in a joint statement.
"That lifeline has been completely cut off since a blockade on all aid supplies was imposed by Israeli authorities on March 2," they said, adding that "This is one of the worst humanitarian failures of our generation."
Israel's renewed genocidal war has so far killed at least 1,691 people in Gaza, the health ministry in the territory reported, bringing the overall toll since the war erupted to 51,065, mostly women and children.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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