Gaza Agency Says Israeli Strike Kills 40 In Humanitarian Zone

AlMawasi, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Sep, 2024) Gaza's civil defence agency said an Israeli strike Tuesday on a humanitarian zone in the Palestinian territory killed 40 people, with the Israeli army saying it had targeted a Hamas command centre in the area.

The strike hit Al-Mawasi -- in Gaza's southern province of Khan Yunis -- which was designated a safe zone by the Israeli military early in the war, with tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians seeking refuge there.

Israel's military has carried out occasional operations in and around the area, including a strike in July which Gaza health authorities said killed more than 90 people.

Egyptian, Qatari and US efforts to broker an elusive ceasefire have focused on securing the release of hostages taken by Hamas on October 7 in exchange for a pause in Israel's offensive.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said a truce and hostage release deal would give Israel a "strategic opportunity" to address other security challenges, adding that Hamas "as a military formation no longer exists".

In Gaza, civil defence official Mohammed al-Mughair said 40 dead and 60 wounded were taken to nearby hospitals following the strike on Al-Mawasi early Tuesday.

"Our crews are still working to recover 15 missing people as a result of targeting the tents of the displaced in Mawasi, Khan Yunis," Mughair told AFP.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Basal said people sheltering in the camp in the dunes along the Mediterranean coast had not been warned of the strike.

The strike left behind "three deep craters", he said, adding: "There are entire families who disappeared under the sand.

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- 'Without prior warning' -

Survivors of the strike scambled to retrieve their belongings from the rubble, including mattresses and clothing, an AFP journalist reported.

"They told us to come to Al-Mawasi, so we came to Al-Mawasi, we settled here. The area was bombed without prior warning, they didn't ask us to flee to a safer area or anything," a Palestinian man told AFP without giving his name.

- Truce efforts stalled -

Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, including some hostages killed in captivity, according to Israeli official figures.

Hamas seized 251 hostages during the attack, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's offensive in Gaza has killed at least 40,988 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

The UN human rights office says most of the dead are women and children.

Efforts to secure a truce in the fighting remain stalled, with Hamas demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza as part of any deal, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists troops must remain along the Gaza-Egypt border.

Speaking to foreign journalists, Defence Minister Gallant voiced his support for an agreement to secure a release of hostages.

He also said that nearly a year into the war, Hamas had been reduced to surviving through guerrilla warfare.