At least 19 people have been killed and 60 wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a humanitarian zone in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said.
The militant Palestinian organization Hamas initially said that at least 40 people were killed. Later, the Ministry of Health reported 19 dead, although other Hamas authorities continued to speak of 40 Palestinians killed.
The Israeli military said the strike targeted key Hamas terrorists in a command center hidden in the area. It also denied the high death toll.
Images from the scene showed a huge crater in the ground and people desperately digging with their bare hands into the sandy soil, searching for more victims.
According to civil defense officials in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the Islamist Hamas, tents housing displaced people were hit.
Israel has repeatedly called on Gaza Strip refugees to seek safety in the Al-Muwasi humanitarian zone.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said the Israeli Air Force “carried out a targeted strike against a number of high-ranking Hamas terrorists operating from a command and control center in the humanitarian area” in Khan Younis.
“One of the terrorists hit was Samer Ismail Khadr Abu Daqqa, head of Hamas’ air force unit in the Gaza Strip,” Hagari said.
Osama Tabesh, the head of the Observation and Target Detection Department at Hamas’ military intelligence headquarters, and Ayman Mabhouh, another senior Hamas commander, were also reportedly hit during the operation.
The Israeli military reported the attack in a Telegram message on Tuesday morning. It said the air force had “hit key Hamas terrorists.” According to them, these terrorists were operating from the humanitarian zone in Khan Younis. However, no information was given about casualties.
“The terrorists advanced and carried out terrorist attacks against IDF forces and the State of Israel,” the report said, adding that “numerous measures were taken to limit the risk of harm to civilians.”
Hagari said the Hamas members hit in the attack were “directly involved in the execution” of the October 7 attacks on Israel that killed about 1,200 people.
According to Hagari, they were recently involved in terrorist activities against Israel.
“Extensive intelligence gathering and continuous aerial surveillance were conducted prior to the attack, confirming the presence of terrorists in the area, along with other terrorist operatives,” the spokesman said.
Hamas, on the other hand, declared that Israel’s claim that its fighters were in the humanitarian zone was “a blatant lie.”
Israel has repeatedly justified attacks on humanitarian areas by citing intelligence sources that claim Hamas members are hiding there.
The claims of both parties could not be independently verified.
Hagari disputed the civil defense agency’s death toll, saying the figures “do not match the information provided by the Israeli army, the precise ammunition used and the accuracy of the attack.”
In July, Israel carried out an attack on a target in the humanitarian zone between Khan Younis and al-Mawasi, which Israel claims served as a base for Hamas militants.
Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas’s military wing in Gaza, and the commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, Rafa Salama, were killed in the attack.
The Hamas-run health authorities in Gaza said the attack hit a refugee camp, killing at least 90 people and wounding another 300.
According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, more than 40,000 people have been killed and more than 98,000 others wounded in Gaza during 11 months of war. The figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants and cannot be independently verified at this time.
The war in Gaza was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel’s history, which left more than 1,200 dead. The massacre was carried out on October 7 last year by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups.
