Israeli strike on crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by war in Gaza killed at least 40 people and injured 60 others early TuesdayPalestinian officials said. Israel said it targeted “senior” Hamas militants, allegations the militant group denied.
It is one of the deadliest strikes to date in Rebelsa stretch of crowded tent camps along the Gaza coast that Israel has designated as humanitarian zone for hundreds of thousands of civilians seeking shelter from the war between Israel and Hamas.
The Civil Defense, the first responders operating under the Hamas government, said it had recovered 40 bodies in the strike and was still searching for people. It said entire families had been killed in their tents.
An Associated Press cameraman saw three large craters at the scene, where rescuers and displaced people were picking through sand and rubble with gardening tools and bare hands, using cellphone light. They pulled body parts from the sand, including what appeared to be a human leg.
Attaf al-Shaar, a displaced person from the southern city of Rafah, said the strike occurred just after midnight and caused a fire.
Hamas militants operated in the camp?
The Israeli military said it struck Hamas militants operating in a command and control center. It said its forces used precise munitions, aerial surveillance and other means to avoid civilian casualties.
Israel says it has worked to avoid harming civilians throughout the war, which was sparked by the Hamas attack on October 7. It accuses Hamas of being responsible for their deathsas the militants often operate in residential areas and are known to position tunnels, rocket launchers and other infrastructure near homes, schools and mosques.
Hamas issued a statement denying the presence of militants in the area. Neither Israel nor Hamas have provided any evidence to support their claims.
Destruction and displacement since October 7
The war caused enormous destruction and displaced about 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, often multiple timesIsraeli evacuation orders, which now cover about 90 percent of the territory, have pushed hundreds of thousands of people into Mawasi, a sprawling line of squalid tent camps along the coast.
Aid agencies have struggled to provide basic services in Mawasi, and Israel has occasionally struck targets in the area, despite it being designated a humanitarian zone.
The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry says that More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war. He does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in his count.
Hamas militants killed some 1,200 peoplemostly civilians, during their attack on October 7. They kidnapped 250 more people and still hold about 100 after freeing most of the others in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel during a weeklong ceasefire last November. About a third of the remaining hostages are believed to be dead.
