The media office of the Gaza government said more than 40 people were killed in the incident, while at least 60 others were wounded. Rescue teams were still searching for missing people after the strike, which occurred near Khan Younis in the Al-Mawasi area, an area designated by Israel as a humanitarian safe zone for displaced civilians.
Eyewitnesses and medical staff said the camp, densely packed with families ordered by Israeli forces to relocate from other parts of Gaza, was hit by at least four rockets. Gaza’s Civil Emergency Service confirmed that 20 tents were set ablaze, with craters up to nine metres deep caused by the explosions. The victims, including women and children, were not immediately categorised as dead or injured.
Gaza’s health ministry, which usually releases casualty figures, had not yet commented, but the Hamas-affiliated Shehab news agency earlier reported 40 Palestinian deaths. A Gaza civil emergency official described the event as a potential “new Israeli massacre”, adding that rescue teams faced major challenges in locating victims buried under the rubble.
Ambulances rushed victims from the camp to a nearby hospital as Israeli jets continued to fly overhead, according to local reports. The ongoing conflict has displaced nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, with some families forced to flee several times.
