Israeli rocket attack on humanitarian area in Gaza Strip kills …

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military launched a rocket attack on a humanitarian site in the Gaza Strip early Tuesday morning, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians, authorities said.

Details of the attack on the coastal community of Mawasi west of Khan Younis, which the Israeli military has declared a humanitarian zone, remained unclear. The area is home to many Palestinians displaced by the war between Israel and Hamas. The Israeli military devastated the entire Gaza Strip following Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7.

The Israeli military described the attack as a hit against “significant Hamas terrorists operating inside a command and control center,” but did not immediately provide further evidence.

The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported dozens of dead and injured, but did not give an exact number of casualties. It spoke of five rockets that hit the area and furrowed the ground.

The Israeli military said it had used “precision munitions, aerial surveillance and other means” that it did not specify in order to limit the number of civilian casualties.

Images circulating on social media showed deep craters at the site of the attack, with the surrounding rubble covered with torn tents, a bicycle and other debris. Rescue workers were digging through the sand with shovels. Passersby were digging with their hands, illuminated by the light from their mobile phones.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. The count does not distinguish between fighters and civilians. The war has caused enormous destruction and around 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants have had to flee their homes, often several times.

In their attack on October 7, the Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Another 250 were kidnapped and about 100 are still being held. Most of the remaining hostages were released in exchange for Palestinians held by Israel during a week-long ceasefire last November. About a third of the remaining hostages are believed dead.