Gaza’s civilian defence agency said Wednesday that 20 individuals, including at least six children, were killed in two Israeli overnight air strikes. The first attack struck a tent that was a temporary home for displaced residents in Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza, just after midnight local time (2100 Tuesday GMT). A second attack followed shortly thereafter, striking a camp in the north.
When contacted by AFP, the Israeli military indicated that it was investigating the reports.
Strikes as Netanyahu Visits US
The attacks were made as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat down with US President Donald Trump in Washington, where they addressed the current operation against Hamas in Gaza. After their meeting, Netanyahu reaffirmed Israel’s goals: the liberation of all hostages seized during the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, and the elimination of Hamas’s ‘military and governing capabilities’.
Casualty Details and Eyewitness Accounts
On Tuesday, Gaza’s civil defense agency reported that 29 had been killed in Israeli airstrikes across the enclave, most of them displaced by nearly 21 months of fighting.
Bassal detailed that the initial air strike on Wednesday killed 10 family members from the same family who were seeking shelter in the Al-Mawasi district of Khan Yunis. The second strike targeted Al-Shati camp, which is located close to Gaza City, injuring more than 30 individuals. The casualties were two separate families, he continued.
40-year-old Zuhair Judeh said the effect of the explosion on Al-Shati: “The explosion was huge, like an earthquake. It destroyed the house and a number of the surrounding houses. The martyrs’ bodies and remnants were scattered,” referring to it as ‘a horrific massacre’.
Abeer al-Sharbati, 36, who had been in a nearby tent with family members, described the bombing as ‘horrible’. She said, “You don’t know when or why they’ll bomb you. We have nothing to do but to leave ourselves in the hands of God.”
Some individuals were missing and feared trapped under debris, residents said.
Because of limitations on media access and reporting in Gaza, AFP could not independently confirm numbers of casualties and other information relayed by parties to the conflict.
Wider Context of the War
Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel killed 1,219, mostly civilians, by an AFP count based on Israeli official data. Of the 251 hostages kidnapped that day, 49 are still in Gaza, of whom 27 are said to be dead by the Israeli military.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has taken at least 57,575 lives in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to the enclave’s Hamas-run health ministry figures, which are deemed credible by the United Nations.