The affected area had been declared a “humanitarian zone” by Israel, theoretically safe for the displaced. The Israeli army said it was examining the information.
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![The bodies of Palestinians killed in a strike on the Al-Mawasi area (Gaza Strip), July 13, 2024. (DOAA ALBAZ / ANADOLU / AFP)](https://www.francetvinfo.fr/pictures/vnWpwi2cf68hYajQtaVu4GWyXOU/0x45:1024x621/432x243/2024/07/13/068-aa-13072024-1772897-6692609b839fd354490497.jpg)
The Hamas government’s Health Ministry announced on Saturday, July 13, that at least 71 Palestinians had been killed in an Israeli strike on the Al-Mawasi displacement camp in the southern Gaza Strip. For its part, theThe Israeli army said it had targeted two senior leaders of the Palestinian organization, including Mohammed Deif and Rafa Salama, whom it described as “two masterminds of the October 7 massacre”and others “terrorists [qui] were hiding among civilians.”
She also specifies in a press release that “The strike was carried out in a fenced area run by Hamas and where, according to our information, only Hamas terrorists were present and there were no civilians.”. The area of Al-Mawasi, on the coast between Rafah and Khan Younis, had been declared “humanitarian zone” by Israel, theoretically safe for the displaced. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, estimates that about 1.5 million people are in the whole of Al-Mawasi.
Saturday’s strike hit the Al-Mawasi area in the Khan Younis area. In a statement, the Hamas government’s Health Ministry denounced “a heinous massacre of the occupation [d’Israël] against citizens and displaced persons”reporting 289 wounded. Questioned by AFP, the Israeli army responded that it was examining this information.
“There are still many remains of martyrs scattered in the streets, under the rubble and around the tents of displaced people that cannot be reached due to the intense gunfire of the occupation”reported Mahmoud Bassal, spokesman for the Civil Defense. The victims were transferred to several hospitals in the region.