Israeli attack on al-Mawasi kills at least 90 people

Some 300 people were also wounded in the attack on the al-Mawasi camp, a designated ‘safe zone’.

Israeli air strikes on the al-Mawasi camp in southern Gaza have killed at least 90 people and wounded 300 others, according to Palestinian health officials.

The attack on Saturday on the Israeli-designated “safe zone”, located west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, involved fighter jets and drones, according to witnesses.

Israeli officials have said the attack targeted two senior members of Hamas’s military wing, claiming they were hiding among civilians.

Hamas has dismissed this claim as “false”, saying it is a way of covering up the “horrific massacre” at a location where displaced Palestinians were urged to seek shelter after receiving orders to evacuate their homes elsewhere in the Strip.

The attack killed at least 90 civilians in a densely populated area sheltering about 80,000 people, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

Israeli warplanes hit tents housing displaced Palestinians and a water distillation unit.

Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said the area was hit by “five bombs and five missiles”.

Displaced people sheltering in the area said their tents were torn down by the force of the strikes and have described bodies and body parts strewn on the ground.

“I couldn’t even tell where I was or what was happening,” said Sheikh Youssef, a resident of Gaza City who is displaced in the al-Mawasi area.

“I left the tent and looked around. All the tents were knocked down, body parts, bodies everywhere, elderly women thrown on the floor, young children in pieces,” he told the Reuters news agency.

The injured were taken to the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, which is severely understaffed and lacks critical equipment. Rescue workers say the Israeli army attacked crews who were on their way to help victims.

An official at Nasser Hospital told Al Jazeera that medical teams did not have the capacity to receive any more wounded patients as civil defence teams continued to work on search and rescue operations at the site of the attack.

Mohammad Subeh, an emergency doctor working at one of the field hospitals near al-Mawasi, told Al Jazeera that rescuers were “digging people out of the ground”.

The al-Mawasi area has been repeatedly attacked by the Israeli military, with a strike in late May that hit tents housing displaced families killing at least 21 people.

The Israeli military claimed in a statement that it acted based on “precise intelligence” to hit an area where “two senior Hamas terrorists” and additional fighters hid among civilians. It described the location of the strike as “an open area surrounded by trees, several buildings, and sheds”.

The figures targeted were Rafa’a Salameh, commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, and Mohammed Deif, head of Hamas’s military wing – both accused of masterminding the Hamas-led October 7 attack on southern Israel.

Speaking at the Ministry of Defence headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was “not absolutely certain” that the Hamas officials were killed in the attack but maintained that it had nonetheless been beneficial to Israel.

“Just the attempt to assassinate Hamas commanders delivers a message to the world, a message that Hamas’s days are numbered,” he said. “And this is what I will be doing next week at the US Congress. I will deliver Israel’s message to the United States and the entire world.”

Netanyahu said he approved the strike after receiving satisfactory information on collateral damage and the type of ammunition to be used. He added that the Israeli military would “one way or another” kill all Hamas leaders.

Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut, reporting from Amman, Jordan, said Netanyahu’s directive to “target and kill Hamas officials wherever they are”, claiming that it was carrying out precise and targeted attacks, had repeatedly been used as a justification to strike civilians in densely populated Gaza.

Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas’s deputy head in Gaza, claimed that Netanyahu had wished to declare a “fake victory” and that claims about targeting the Hamas leaders were false.

“Mohammad Deif is listening to you now and mocking your false, empty statements,” he told Al Jazeera Arabic.

Hamas had earlier issued a statement on Telegram calling on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem to “mobilise” in response to the attack.

“We call on all resistance brigades to mobilise for Gaza and in loyalty to the blood of the martyrs,” the statement read.

The armed group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) said in a statement that Israel was “continuing the war of extermination against our people”. “This crime confirms that the occupation has disregarded all international norms and covenants,” the PIJ said.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa condemned Israel’s “genocidal crimes” in Gaza, saying that Palestinians were “going through a very difficult stage”. Mustafa said Israel’s actions were more broadly targeting the Palestinian project as a whole, including the goal of establishing an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Hanan Ashrawi, a scholar and activist, said the attack on al-Mawasi had “turned all of Gaza into one massive death zone”.

“American bombs and shells rain down on Gaza while the Israeli government and thugs succeed in preventing any form of medical, food, or fuel supplies from reaching the devastated population,” she said in a post on X.

Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, told Al Jazeera the attacks may have breached international law.

“People in a safe area are protected under international law. If there is a military target within a safe zone, the action has to be proportional to the military advantage that is going to be achieved. Killing 90 people for one is not proportional,” she said.

“I’m disgusted by the tolerance of Israel’s impunity which is enabling the genocidal war,” she added.

In March, the UN expert issued a report that stated there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

[Salon] Israeli attack on al-Mawasi kills at least 90 people

Israeli attack on al-Mawasi kills at least 90 people

Some 300 people were also wounded in the attack on the al-Mawasi camp, a designated ‘safe zone’.