The Israeli army attacked a tent camp designated as a “humanitarian zone” near Khan Younis in southern Gaza early Tuesday, killing at least 40 people and wounding more than 60, according to reports from Israeli officials in the Hamas-controlled strip reported by local media.
A spokesman for Hamas’ civil defense unit, quoted by the Islamist group’s Shehab news agency, said that “entire families were swallowed up by mountains of sand during the attack,” which left huge holes in the ground, although rescuers do not have the equipment to dig them.
Meanwhile, Israel justified the attack with warplanes by alleging the presence of Hamas members in the area, a version that the Islamist group denied through its official channels.
“The occupation’s accusations about the presence of resistance fighters are a blatant lie,” Hamas said in a statement posted on Telegram.
This is not the first time that Israel has attacked the “humanitarian zone” along the coast south of Gaza. Last July, it carried out one of its heaviest bombardments against the area, killing 90 people along the beaches of Mawasi, in an attempt to finish off Mohammed Deif, the head of Hamas’s military wing.
The armed forces have designated a “humanitarian zone” covering the territories of Mawasi and Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza, and Deir al Balah, in the center, although they have reduced its perimeter over the months on the assumption that the militiamen are using it to attack the troops.
Ninety percent of Gaza’s population, more than two million people, have been displaced by the war, and the vast majority are crammed into a swarm of tents in the “humanitarian zone,” with poor humanitarian conditions marked by lack of water or electricity.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), “more than a million people received no food rations in August in southern and central Gaza” due to the reduced flow of aid trucks entering the enclave.
