The Gaza Civil Defense said an Israeli strike hit tents in a displacement camp in the south of the Palestinian territory on Sunday, killing at least five people.
A witness told AFP that a newborn baby was among the dead in Al-Mawasi, near the town of Khan Younis, where tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought refuge from the war that has lasted more than nine years.
Israeli forces have been operating in and around Khan Younis since Monday, including parts of the Al-Mawasi coastal area.
“Today, the Israeli occupation targeted the tents of displaced people in Al-Istable Street in Al-Mawasi,” Muhammad al-Mughayyir of the Gaza Civil Defense told AFP.
PHOTO MOHAMMED SALEM, REUTERS
Palestinians mourn a family member killed in an Israeli strike, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 28, 2024.
“Five martyrs and seven injured were transferred to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis,” he added.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli army indicated that it was examining this information.
The army had warned on Monday that its soldiers would “act with force” in the Khan Younis area, after withdrawing there in April. On Saturday, the Civil Defense said that 170 people had been killed since Monday by the resumption of fighting and military operations.
The recent military operations were aimed at preventing rocket fire from the area into Israel, the army said. On Wednesday, it announced that it had recovered the bodies of five Israelis killed in the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel and taken to Gaza.
The attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil left 1,197 dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
Of the 251 people abducted, 111 are still being held in Gaza, 39 of whom have died, according to the army.
The Israeli response offensive has left at least 39,324 dead, according to data from the Hamas-run Gaza government’s health ministry, which does not provide details on the number of civilians and fighters killed.