Israeli Missiles Kill Dozens in Camp

Deir Al-Balah: An Israeli strike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in Gaza killed at least 40 people and wounded 60 others yesterday, Palestinian officials said. Israel said it targeted “significant” Hamas militants, allegations denied by the militant group.

The Civil Defence, first responders operating under the Hamas government, said it had recovered 40 bodies in a designated humanitarian zone known as Al-Mawasi and was still looking for people. It said entire families had been killed as they huddled in tents.

An Associated Press cameraman saw three large craters at the scene, where first responders and displaced people were sifting through the sand and rubble with garden tools and their bare hands by the light of mobile phones after the predawn strike.

The Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, one of three hospitals to receive casualties, said about two dozen bodies had been brought in.

The Israeli military said it had struck Hamas militants operating in a command-and-control centre. It said its forces had used precise munitions, aerial surveillance and other means to avoid civilian casualties. It says it has tried to avoid harming civilians throughout the 11-month war ignited by Hamas’ October 7 attack. It blames Hamas for their deaths because the militants often operate in residential areas and are known to position tunnels, rocket launchers and other infrastructure near homes, schools and mosques.

Hamas released a statement denying any militants were in the area. Neither Israel nor Hamas provided evidence to substantiate their claims.

The war has caused vast destruction and displaced about 90 per cent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times. Israeli evacuation orders have pushed hundreds of thousands of people into Al-Mawasi, a sprawling line of squalid tent camps along the coast. Aid groups have struggled to provide even basic services in AlMawasi, and Israel has occasionally struck targets there despite designating it as a humanitarian zone.

The main UN agency providing aid to Palestinians said the Israeli military stopped a convoy. for more than eight hours on Monday, despite it co-ordinating with the troops.

UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said the staff who were held had been trying to work on a polio vaccination campaign in northern Gaza and Gaza City .”The convoy was stopped at gun point just after the Wadi Gaza checkpoint with threats to detain UN staff,” he wrote on social media platform X.

“Heavy damage was caused by bulldozers to the UN armoured vehicles.” He said the staff and the convoy later returned to a UN base, but it was unclear if a polio vaccination campaign would take place yesterday in northern Gaza.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The vaccination drive, launched after doctors discovered the first polio case in the Gaza in 25 years, aims to vaccinate 640,000 children during a war that has destroyed the health care system.