Israeli forces launched an attack on tent camps housing displaced Palestinians in Gaza on Friday, killing at least 25 people and wounding another 50, aid and health workers in Gaza said.
The attack took place near the southern Gaza town of Rafah, close to a Red Cross field hospital, where at least 22 people died and 45 others were injured, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Friday.
Additional casualties were also reported, the humanitarian organization noted.
The “heavy caliber projectiles” damaged the ICRC office, which is close to tents housing hundreds of displaced civilians, including hospital staff, the ICRC said.
Relatives of those killed who witnessed Friday’s attack told the Associated Press that Israeli forces fired a second volley, killing people as they emerged from their tents.
The AP reported at least 25 deaths and 50 injuries in total, citing Gaza’s health ministry.
According to a spokesperson for Civil Defense first responders in Rafah, the attacks took place at two locations in a coastal area near the Red Cross hospital, the AP reported.
The locations appeared to be outside an Israeli-designated safe zone on the Mediterranean coast called Muwasi, the news channel added. The attack is under review by the Israeli military, which also noted that “there is no indication that an attack was carried out by the IDF [Israeli Defense Forces]”, within the area.
The attack marks the latest violence in Gaza, where more than 37,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 85,000 others injured since early October, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
An estimated 1.7 million people have been displaced in Gaza, which the United Nations says is separately experiencing “full famine” in the northern part of the region.
The war between Israel and Hamas, which has lasted more than eight months, began when the Palestinian militant group launched a surprise attack on southern Israel, killing about 1,200 and leaving 250 others in captivity.
Israel has pledged to intensify its operations in Rafah, which it has called the stronghold of the last elements of Hamas’s convention army.
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