DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces shelled tent camps for displaced Palestinians north of Rafah on Friday, killing at least 25 people and wounding another 50, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and aid workers. small Palestinian area where hundreds of thousands of people have fled the fighting between Israel and Hamas.
According to Ahmed Radwan, spokesman for Civil Defense first responders in Rafah, witnesses told rescuers about the shelling at two locations in a coastal area filled with tents. The Ministry of Health reported the number of deaths and injuries in the attacks.
The locations of the attacks provided by Civil Defense were just outside a safe zone designated by Israel. The Israeli military said it was investigating the attacks at the reported coordinates. Israel has previously bombed sites near the “humanitarian zone” in Muwasi, a rural area on the Mediterranean coast that has been filled with sprawling tent camps in recent months.
The attacks came as Israel continued its military operation in Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians had sought refuge from fighting elsewhere in Gaza. Most have now fled Rafah, but the United Nations says no place in Gaza is safe and humanitarian conditions are dire as families shelter in tents and cramped apartments without adequate food, water or medical supplies.
Friday’s attacks came less than a month after an Israeli bombardment sparked a deadly fire that destroyed a camp for displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza, sparking widespread international outrage — including from some of Israel’s closest allies — over the spreading army offensive against Rafah.
Israel says it is targeting Hamas fighters and infrastructure, and trying to minimize civilian deaths. They blame the large number of civilian casualties on militants and say this is because they operate among the population.
As Israel’s war against Hamas enters its ninth month, international criticism of Israel’s campaign of systematic destruction in Gaza is growing, resulting in enormous costs in civilian casualties. The United Nations’ highest court has concluded that there is a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza – a charge Israel strongly denies.
Israeli ground offensives and bombings have killed more than 37,100 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its count.
Israel launched the war after Hamas’s attack on October 7, in which militants swept into southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and kidnapping about 250.
