Bloodshed in a Sanctuary: Israeli Strike on Gaza Humanitarian Zone Claims Dozens of Innocent Lives
Israeli Attack on Gaza Refugee Camp Kills at Least 40 People
By Wafaa Shurafa and Samy Magdy
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza (AP) — An Israeli attack on a refugee camp in Gaza has killed at least 40 people and wounded 60 others, according to Palestinian officials. The attack, which occurred in the early hours of Tuesday, targeted a crowded tent field along the coast of the enclave, designated by Israel as a humanitarian zone for hundreds of thousands of civilians to shelter from the war between Israel and Hamas.
The Civil Defense, rescuers operating under the Hamas government, said it had recovered 40 bodies and was still searching for more people. Entire families died in their tents, they added.
A photographer from The Associated Press saw three huge craters at the site, where rescuers and displaced people were digging through the sand and rubble with garden tools and their own hands, using mobile phones for light. They pulled body parts from the sand, including what appeared to be a human leg.
Tonight the Israeli army carried out a new massacre against the Palestinian civilians who are sheltering in tents in the area of Khan younes Mawasi which was declared by the Israeli army as a safe humanitarian area.
100 civilians including many children and women were killed or injured in the… pic.twitter.com/61vwZKcVfR— Mustafa Barghouti @Mustafa_Barghouti (@MustafaBarghouti1) September 10, 2024
Attaf al-Shaar, a displaced person from the southern city of Rafah, said the attack happened shortly after midnight and caused a fire.
“People were buried in the sand. “They were recovering pieces of bodies,” he told a journalist from the AP in the area.
Nasser hospital in the city of Khan Yunis, one of three that received victims, reported that around two dozen bodies had arrived after the incident.
The Israeli army said it attacked Hamas militants operating in a command and control center and used precision-guided munitions, aerial surveillance, and other methods to limit civilian casualties.
One of the craters caused by the bombs dropped by Israelis to carry out the new massacre of the Mawasi refugee camp.
I have not seen such a huge crater since the occupation launched its genocidal war on Gaza.
This is unreal. Entire Palestinian families have been wiped out. pic.twitter.com/kPqTjp2vWr
— Hussein (@EyesOnSouth1) September 9, 2024
Israel maintains that it has tried to avoid causing harm to civilians since the war began, following the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7. It blames the group for those deaths, saying its members usually operate in residential areas and are known to place tunnels, rocket launchers, and other infrastructure near homes, schools, and mosques.
In a statement, Hamas denied that any fighters were in the area. Neither Israel nor Hamas provided evidence to support their claims.
The war has caused widespread destruction and displaced some 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, often repeatedly. Israeli evacuation orders, which now affect about 90 percent of the territory, have driven hundreds of thousands of people to Mawasi.
Aid groups have struggled to provide even basic services in Mawasi, and Israel has periodically attacked targets there despite its designation as a humanitarian zone.
🔴New massacre in Gaza. An Israeli attack kills 40 people in a “humanitarian zone.”
It happened this morning in an area of tents designated by Israel as a “safe zone”, in Al Mawasi, in the south-west of Gaza.
“Entire families” have died in the attack… pic.twitter.com/fLiC0vBFdh— Almudena Ariza (@almuariza) September 10, 2024
More than 40,000 Palestinians have lost their lives in Gaza since the start of the war, according to the territory’s Ministry of Health, whose count does not distinguish between civilian victims and combatants.
The US, Egypt, and Qatar have spent much of this year trying to broker a deal for a ceasefire and the release of hostages, but talks have repeatedly stalled and Israel and Hamas accuse each other of adding demands unacceptable.
The war has plunged Gaza into a humanitarian crisis and aid groups have struggled to carry out their work due to fighting, Israeli restrictions, and a breakdown in law and order. According to international authorities, the territory is at great risk of famine.
This is the crater left by the 1 ton American bomb that the Zionist army launched against the tents of the Mawasi refugee camp in southern Gaza in the middle of the night.
What kind of criminals can launch a massive bomb… pic.twitter.com/YNmFusl3HO
— Daniel Mayakovski (@DaniMayakovski) September 10, 2024
The vaccination campaign, which began after the first case of polio was discovered in the Palestinian enclave in 25 years, aims to immunize 640,000 minors during a war that has devastated the health care system.