Israeli air strikes on the al-Mawasi camp in southern Gaza have killed a minimum of 90 individuals and wounded 300 others, in accordance with Palestinian well being officers.
The assault on Saturday on the Israeli-designated “secure zone”, situated west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, concerned fighter jets and drones, in accordance with witnesses.
Israeli officers have stated the assault focused two senior members of Hamas’s army wing, claiming they had been hiding amongst civilians.
Hamas has dismissed this declare as “false”, saying it’s a manner of masking up the “horrific bloodbath” at a location the place displaced Palestinians had been urged to hunt shelter after receiving orders to evacuate their properties elsewhere within the Strip.
Right here’s all the pieces you want to know concerning the assault and its aftermath:
What’s the state of affairs on the bottom?
The assault killed a minimum of 90 civilians in a densely populated space sheltering about 80,000 individuals, in accordance with Gaza’s Ministry of Well being.
Israeli warplanes hit tents housing displaced Palestinians and a water distillation unit.
Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum stated the world was hit by “5 bombs and 5 missiles”.
Displaced individuals sheltering within the space stated their tents had been torn down by the power of the strikes and have described our bodies and physique elements strewn on the bottom.
“I couldn’t even inform the place I used to be or what was occurring,” stated Sheikh Youssef, a resident of Gaza Metropolis who’s displaced within the al-Mawasi space.
“I left the tent and seemed round. All of the tents had been knocked down, physique elements, our bodies in all places, aged ladies thrown on the ground, younger youngsters in items,” he instructed the Reuters information company.
The injured had been taken to the Nasser Medical Advanced in Khan Younis, which is severely understaffed and lacks vital gear. Rescue staff say the Israeli military attacked crews who had been on their manner to assist victims.
An official at Nasser Hospital instructed Al Jazeera that medical groups didn’t have the capability to obtain any extra wounded sufferers as civil defence groups continued to work on search and rescue operations on the web site of the assault.
Mohammad Subeh, an emergency physician working at one of many discipline hospitals close to al-Mawasi, instructed Al Jazeera that rescuers had been “digging individuals out of the bottom”.
The al-Mawasi space has been repeatedly attacked by the Israeli army, with a strike in late Might that hit tents housing displaced households killing a minimum of 21 individuals.
What are Israeli officers saying?
The Israeli army claimed in a press release that it acted based mostly on “exact intelligence” to hit an space the place “two senior Hamas terrorists” and extra fighters hid amongst civilians. It described the situation of the strike as “an open space surrounded by bushes, a number of buildings, and sheds”.
The figures focused had been Rafa’a Salameh, commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, and Mohammed Deif, head of Hamas’s army wing – each accused of masterminding the Hamas-led October 7 assault on southern Israel.
Talking on the Ministry of Defence headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated it was “not completely sure” that the Hamas officers had been killed within the assault however maintained that it had nonetheless been helpful to Israel.
“Simply the try and assassinate Hamas commanders delivers a message to the world, a message that Hamas’s days are numbered,” he stated. “And that is what I will probably be doing subsequent week on the US Congress. I’ll ship Israel’s message to the USA and all the world.”
Netanyahu stated he authorised the strike after receiving passable data on collateral injury and the kind of ammunition for use. He added that the Israeli army would “a technique or one other” kill all Hamas leaders.
Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut, reporting from Amman, Jordan, stated Netanyahu’s directive to “goal and kill Hamas officers wherever they’re”, claiming that it was finishing up exact and focused assaults, had repeatedly been used as a justification to strike civilians in densely populated Gaza.
What are Palestinian leaders saying?
Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas’s deputy head in Gaza, claimed that Netanyahu had wished to declare a “faux victory” and that claims about focusing on the Hamas leaders had been false.
“Mohammad Deif is listening to you now and mocking your false, empty statements,” he instructed Al Jazeera Arabic.
Hamas had earlier issued a press release on Telegram calling on Palestinians within the occupied West Financial institution and occupied East Jerusalem to “mobilise” in response to the assault.
“We name on all resistance brigades to mobilise for Gaza and in loyalty to the blood of the martyrs,” the assertion learn.
The armed group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) stated in a press release that Israel was “persevering with the conflict of extermination in opposition to our individuals”.
“This crime confirms that the occupation has disregarded all worldwide norms and covenants,” the PIJ stated.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa condemned Israel’s “genocidal crimes” in Gaza, saying that Palestinians had been “going by means of a really troublesome stage”.
Mustafa stated Israel’s actions had been extra broadly focusing on the Palestinian venture as a complete and included Israel’s objective of creating an impartial state with Jerusalem as its capital.
Hanan Ashrawi, a scholar and activist, stated the assault on al-Mawasi had “turned all of Gaza into one large loss of life zone”.
“American bombs and shells rain down on Gaza whereas the Israeli authorities and thugs reach stopping any type of medical, meals, or gas provides from reaching the devastated inhabitants,” she stated in a submit on X.
At this time’s horrific bloodbath & savage bombing of displaced Palestinians in Israeli designated “secure” zones of Muassi, Khan Younis is the most recent in an escalation that has turned all of Gaza into one large loss of life zone. American bombs & shells rain down on Gaza whereas the Israeli…
— Hanan Ashrawi (@DrHananAshrawi) July 13, 2024
What’s the state of affairs underneath worldwide regulation?
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations particular rapporteur on the human rights state of affairs within the occupied Palestinian territory, instructed Al Jazeera the assaults could have breached worldwide regulation.
“Folks in a secure space are protected underneath worldwide regulation. If there’s a army goal inside a secure zone, the motion must be proportional to the army benefit that’s going to be achieved. Killing 70 individuals for one shouldn’t be proportional,” she stated.
“I’m disgusted by the tolerance of Israel’s impunity which is enabling the genocidal conflict,” she added.
In March, the UN professional issued a report that said there have been “cheap grounds” to imagine that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
How is the world reacting?
Egypt
“We condemn within the strongest phrases the Israeli raids on the al-Mawasi space,” Egypt’s Ministry of International Affairs stated in a press release. The ministry emphasised that “ongoing violations in opposition to the rights of Palestinian residents” add severe “problems” to reaching a ceasefire deal.
Qatar
Qatar’s International Ministry stated that “the repetition of the heinous crimes proves day after day the necessity for pressing worldwide motion to instantly finish this brutal aggression and supply safety for the Palestinian individuals”.
It additionally warned that Israel’s “recklessness” would undermine worldwide efforts to implement a two-state answer “and thus pave the best way for the growth of the cycle of violence within the area and the risk to worldwide peace and safety”.
Saudi Arabia
The International Ministry referred to as for “activating worldwide accountability mechanisms” in opposition to Israeli abuses. “The International Ministry condemns in strongest phrases the continuation of genocidal massacres in opposition to the Palestinian individuals by the hands of the Israeli conflict machine,” it stated in a press release.
Iran
International Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani stated the assault was the “newest crime within the sequence of crimes dedicated by the child-killing Zionist regime”, in a submit on X.
“The Zionists have as soon as once more brutally proven that to be able to compensate for the defeats suffered on the battlefield with the resistance, they don’t recognise any humane and ethical purple line in direction of the defenceless residents of the Gaza Strip, however they need to know that insisting on this path is nothing however a wider world hatred.”
Jordan
The International Ministry stated in a press release that it condemned the assault on “displaced individuals’” tents. Spokesperson Sufyan al-Qudah stated that Jordan denounces Israel’s continued violation of worldwide regulation and harassed the necessity for the worldwide group to behave to carry an finish to Palestinian struggling.
Colombia
President Gustavo Petro expressed outrage at what he referred to as “the best injustice”.
“I’m much more outraged as a result of this destruction of worldwide human regulation is a prelude to the barbarism they need to unleash on all of the oppressed individuals of the earth,” he stated in a submit on X.
