At least 40 people were killed and 60 wounded, local news agency WAFA said, in an Israeli strike early Tuesday that left craters up to 10 meters (32 feet) deep in a humanitarian area of the Gaza Strip.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began. It does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count. The war has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in their Oct. 7 attack. They abducted another 250 and are still holding around 100 after releasing most of the rest in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel during a weeklong cease-fire last November. Around a third of the remaining hostages are believed to be dead.
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Israel’s military conducted a missile strike early Tuesday that targeted a humanitarian area in the Gaza Strip, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians there, authorities said.
Details about the strike in the Mawasi coastal community just west of Khan Younis that the Israeli military has designated as a humanitarian zone were not yet clear. The area is home to many Palestinians displaced by the Israel-Hamas war in which the Israeli military has devastated the enclave after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Footage circulating on social media showed deep craters at the site of the attack, the strewn ruins around it covered in shredded tents, a bicycle and other debris. Rescue workers used shovels to shift through the sand. Bystanders used their hands to dig, illuminated by mobile phone light. At least one crater at the site looked to be as deep as 10 meters (32 feet).
The Israeli military described the strike as hitting “significant Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command-and-control center,” without immediately providing additional evidence. A Hamas statement called the Israeli claim “a clear lie.”
Israel long has accused Hamas and other militants of hiding in civilian areas, putting local populations at risk.
The Palestinian news agency WAFA said dozens were killed and wounded, without providing precise casualty figures. It described five missiles striking the area, cratering the ground.
The United Nations agency in charge of aid for displaced Palestinians said the Israeli military stopped a convoy for more than eight hours on Monday, despite it coordinating with the troops.
The agency’s head Philippe Lazzarini said the staffers 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 the social platform X. “Heavy damage was caused by bulldozers to the UN armoured vehicles.”
He said the staff and the convoy later returned to a U.N. base but it was unclear if a polio vaccination campaign would take place Tuesday in northern Gaza.
“UN Staff must be allowed to undertake their duties in safety + be protected at all times in accordance with international humanitarian law,” he wrote. “Gaza is no different.”
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 Palestinian enclave in 25 years, aims to vaccinate 640,000 children during a war that has destroyed the healthcare system.
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