Gaza officials said at least 40 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike early Tuesday on a tent village designated as a humanitarian area in Khan Yunis. The Israeli military said it was an attack on a Hamas headquarters.
Gaza's civil defence told AFP and the BBC that 40 people were killed in the attack inside Al Mawashi refugee camp, with a further 60 injured and taken to local hospitals.
At least four missiles hit a tent camp in the al-Mawasi neighborhood, which is crowded with Palestinians who fled from other parts of the enclave, according to residents and medical sources.
Gaza's civil emergency service said at least 20 tents were on fire and the missile strike left a crater nine metres deep. There was no immediate comment from the Gaza Health Ministry, which is counting the casualties.
“Our teams are still evacuating martyrs and wounded from the target areas. It appears to be a new Israeli massacre,” a Gaza civil emergency official said.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that they had “struck a key Hamas terrorist operating from a command and control center located within the humanitarian area of Khan Yunis.”
“The terrorists moved forward and carried out a terrorist attack against the Israel Defense Forces and the State of Israel,” the statement said.
Hamas denied that any Hamas fighters were at the scene of the attack, saying in a Telegram statement that “the occupying forces' claims to the presence of resistance fighters are a blatant lie.”
Residents said ambulances were making multiple trips to nearby hospitals at the scene of the attack and the sounds of Israeli jets could still be heard overhead.
Nearly all of Gaza's 2.3 million residents have been forced to flee their homes at least once, and some have had to flee as many as ten times.
Since the conflict began, hundreds of thousands of people have flocked to Al Mawashi, despite it providing few basic services, and humanitarian officials confirmed last month that overcrowding was deterring people who had been ordered to evacuate by the IDF from leaving, despite the risks of staying.
The camp has seen a number of deadly attacks since fighting began last year.
The war began on October 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, leaving 1,200 people dead and about 250 taken hostage.
The subsequent Israeli offensive into Gaza has left more than 40,900 Palestinians dead, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, with thousands more believed to be buried under rubble, and thousands more killed and tens of thousands injured as indirect effects of the war.
Both sides blame each other for failing so far to reach a ceasefire agreement to end the fighting and release hostages.
Reuters contributed to this report.
