DEIR AL-BALAH, Sept 5: Palestinian health officials say an Israeli strike on a tent camp killed four men and wounded two children.
The strike early Thursday hit an encampment near the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah. Hospital officials confirmed the toll and an Associated Press reporter saw the bodies.
The Israeli military said it carried out a precise strike on a command and control center operated by Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group that was embedded in a humanitarian zone.
The nearly 11-month-long war has displaced about 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, often multiple times. Israel has ordered mass evacuations into so-called humanitarian zones but occasionally carries out strikes there as well.
A woman who identified herself as Umm Mohammed Wadi said she was staying in a tent close to where the strike occurred.
“What did they do to be struck while sleeping?” she said. “No hospital is safe, nor any school or home.”
Israel says it only targets militants and tries to avoid harming civilians.
The Gaza Health Ministry says at least 40,861 Palestinians have been killed and more than 94,000 wounded since the start of the war. It does not differentiate between civilians and fighters in its toll.
The war began after Hamas launched a wide-scale attack into Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 people. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, about a third of whom are believed to be dead, after most of the rest were released during a cease-fire in November. (AP)
