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Israeli strike kills at least 19 in Gaza ‘humanitarian zone’

At least 19 people have been killed and dozens more wounded in an Israeli airstrike on al-Mawasi, an Israeli-designated so-called humanitarian zone in the Gaza Strip, according to health officials in the enclave.

Several missiles slammed into a crowded camp in al-Mawasi early on 10 September, leaving behind nine-metre deep craters and causing tents to catch fire. Palestinian health officials said the number of victims is expected to rise because civil defence workers still haven’t been able to reach some victims buried under the rubble and sand.

The Israeli military said it was targeting a Hamas command centre in the camp. Aid officials said dozens of tents that were buried and burned in the attack housed children and their families.

“For 11 months, Israel has been forcing Palestinians in Gaza to flee from place to place without offering them genuine assurances of safety, proper accommodation or return once hostilities end,” Jan Egeland, the secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said in a statement.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are living in dire conditions in al-Mawasi after being forcibly displaced from other parts of Gaza. The Israeli military has repeatedly issued evacuation orders for Palestinians to leave parts of the enclave, and many have been forced to move multiple times.

At least 84% of Gaza’s territory is subject to Israeli evacuation orders, according to the UN, with the population of 2.1 million people crammed into an ever-shrinking area. The Israeli military says the evacuation orders are intended to protect civilians. However, human rights groups and humanitarians say they violate international law prohibitions on the forcible transfer of populations and that the areas people are ordered to go to are not safe.

The 10 September strike was far from the first time the Israeli military has attacked an area that Israel designated as a humanitarian zone last December. For more on al-Mawasi from earlier this year, read:

Late 2023, Qatari Red Crescent set up tents in Al-Mawasi to shelter displaced families.

Inside Gaza’s supposed ‘safe zone’, where displaced Palestinians struggle for survival

Israel told Palestinians to flee to al-Mawasi, but it lacks basic infrastructure, is still attacked, and is hard for aid groups to reach.

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