Israeli attack in Gaza leaves 46 dead: school and refugee camp were targeted

At least 29 people were killed and dozens more injured in an Israeli attack on a school housing displaced people in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Hamas authorities in the enclave said on Tuesday, July 9, 2024.

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The Palestinian Red Crescent confirmed that Dozens of people were affected after an attack on a school in the Abasan area, east of Khan Yunisand that its teams were transporting the wounded to two local hospitals, although it did not give figures for the dead or wounded.

The Hamas government in Gaza said that Most of the victims are women and childrenand stressed that “This massacre occurred after the occupation committed six others in the central camps, which raised the number of martyrs to 60 during the last hours.“, according to a statement from the Islamist group’s Media Office.

Many of those displaced by the ground invasion of Rafah, the southernmost city in the Strip, where Israeli troops entered in early May and have been operating ever since, are based in Khan Yunis.

Israel has not yet confirmed the attack on Khan Yunis.

Massacre in refugee camp in Gaza

Israeli forces on Tuesday concentrated fire on the centre of the Palestinian enclave, devastated after nine months of a war that has already left more than 38,000 dead and thousands missing.

The worst hit locality was the Nuseirat refugee camp, located eight kilometers south of Gaza City. In that camp, The Israeli army killed 17 members of the same family, including 14 minors and women.

Just five kilometres away, in Deir al-Balah – a town where Israel directed displaced people from northern Gaza City on Monday – a woman and her child were killed by intense Israeli bombardment overnight.

Meanwhile, mediators from Israel and Hamas are negotiating a truce agreement that would allow for the release of the 116 Israeli hostages held in Gaza and the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave.

But on Monday, Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh said the ongoing Israeli military attacks on Gaza City and central Gaza could bring talks to a halt “back to square one.”

>>>Hamas gives in on key demand to negotiate a truce in Gaza, after nine months of war