UNITED NATIONS, Sep 12 (IPS) – An airstrike was carried out on Tuesday in Al-Mawasi, a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, killing 40 people and wounding more than 60, according to the Gaza Civil Defense Agency. Despite being designated a “safe zone” by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the area has been the scene of continuous airstrikes and armed hostilities since December 2023.
Before the outbreak of hostilities in Gaza, Al-Mawasi was home to about 9,000 Palestinians. It was known as the “Basket of Food” because of its highly fertile agricultural conditions. The region is relatively small, stretching for about 14 kilometers.
Late last year, Israeli authorities declared that the Al-Mawasi settlement would be exempt from attack during the Israeli occupation of Gaza. Thousands of displaced Palestinians moved to the region, only to find the camps deprived of essential resources such as food, water, health care and sanitation.
“The use of heavy weapons in densely populated areas is unacceptable. Palestinians had moved to this area in Khan Younis in search of shelter and safety, after receiving repeated instructions from the Israeli authorities,” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the Secretary-General, told a United Nations (UN) news conference on Tuesday.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) estimates that more than 1 million people are sheltering in this small region. The IDF claims that al-Mawasi was targeted in this recent bombing due to reports that the Hamas terrorist organization is located in the settlements. They claim that they “hit key Hamas terrorists operating in a command and control center embedded in the humanitarian area.” Hamas has denied these claims.
The IDF added that only Hamas members were targeted in this recent airstrike and that they tried to limit the damage to civilians by using “precise munitions.” They neither confirmed nor denied whether civilians in the area were warned before the bombing.
However, the size of the bombs used in this attack more closely matches previous indiscriminate attacks on refugee camps. Patrick Senft, a research coordinator at Armament Research Services (ARES), said: “The significant damage and the size of the craters are consistent with the expected effects of aerial bombs weighing several hundred kilograms.”
“In an overcrowded camp where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are scattered in makeshift tents, even the smallest bomb can cause immense damage and countless casualties. Now imagine the devastation if the Israeli occupation army were to fire 3 US MK-84 bombs at them,” said Maha Hussaini, director of strategy at the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, in a post shared with X.
The explosions created three large craters in the refugee camp, trapping several Palestinians under the rubble. The Gaza Ministry of Health said: “A number of victims are still under the rubble, under the sand and on the roads, and ambulances and civil protection teams cannot reach and rescue them, and they have not yet reached hospitals.”
Tuesday’s airstrikes were among the deadliest attacks in Al-Mawasi since the war began last year. Despite earlier perceptions that Al-Mawasi was exempt from hostilities, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said no place in Gaza was safe. A ceasefire agreement was needed to prevent further losses.
Tor Wennesland, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, told reporters that “international humanitarian law, including the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution in attack, must be upheld at all times.”
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© Inter Press Service (2024) — All rights reservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
