40 killed in Israeli strike in humanitarian zone: Gaza agency

Cairo: Gaza's civil defence organisation stated that an Israeli strike on a humanitarian zone in the southern part of the Palestinian territory resulted in forty deaths and 60 injuries. The Israeli army claimed that the strike was directed at a Hamas command centre located in the region.

The attack targeted Al-Mawasi, which is located in Khan Yunis, the main southern city of Gaza. Tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees sought safety in Al-Mawasi after the Israeli military declared it a safe zone early in the conflict.

Nonetheless, there have been sporadic operations by Israel's military in the region, such as one in July that it claimed killed Mohammed Deif, the military chief of Hamas, and that over ninety persons were killed, according to Gaza health officials.

Following the overnight strike, "40 martyrs and 60 injured were recovered and transferred" to neighbouring hospitals, Gaza civil defence spokesman Mohammed Al-Mughair told AFP early on 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 added

Mahmoud Basal, a spokesperson for civil defence, claimed in a different statement that those taking refuge in the camp had not been warned of the strike and that a lack of supplies was impeding rescue efforts, AFP reported.

“More than 20 to 40 tents were completely damaged,” he said, adding the strike left behind “three deep craters.”

“There are entire families who disappeared under the sand in the Mawasi Khan Yunis massacre.”

In a statement early Tuesday, the Israeli military said that its aircraft had “struck significant Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command and control center embedded inside the Humanitarian Area in Khan Yunis.”

“The terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip continue to systematically abuse civilian and humanitarian infrastructure, including the designated Humanitarian Area, to carry out terrorist activity against the State of Israel and IDF troops,” it added.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Hamas stated that assertions that its fighters were present at the location of the attack were "a blatant lie." Hamas has been charged by Israel several times during the conflict with utilising civilians as human shields; the organisation refutes these claims.

Based on official Israeli numbers, 1,205 individuals died as a result of Hamas's October 7 strike on Israel.

There were 251 hostages taken by Hamas during the operation; 97 of them are still being held in Gaza, 33 of whom the Israeli military claims are dead.

The health ministry in the territory controlled by Hamas reports that at least 40,988 Palestinians have died as a result of Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip. Most of the dead, according to the UN human rights office, are women and children.

The United Nations estimates that during the nearly a year-long conflict, the great majority of Gaza's 2.4 million residents have experienced at least one displacement.

The UN estimates that the Al-Mawasi humanitarian zone now has "between 30,000 and 34,000 people per square kilometre," with its protected area having decreased from 50 to 41 square kilometres, from 1,200 people per square kilometre before the war.

Talks between Israel and Hamas to create a ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange agreement have been mediated by the US, Qatar, and Egypt, but they have stalled.

As a condition of any agreement, Hamas wants Israel to completely withdraw from Gaza, but Israel maintains that troops must stay along the Gaza-Egypt border.