Israeli strikes kill dozens in Gaza, including 11 in southern 'humanitarian area'

Defence minister threatens to intensify attacks if Hamas continues to fire rockets

A Palestinian boy stands amid the wreckage of an Israeli air strike on an encampment in Al Mawasi, southern Gaza, on Thursday. Reuters

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At least 52 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including 11 in an air strike on a tent encampment in southern Gaza, medical sources said.

Eleven people died in the strike on a camp sheltering displaced families in Al Mawasi, designated as a humanitarian area by Israel, in western Khan Younis, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. Fifteen people were wounded in the attack. The dead included the director general of Gaza's police department, Mahmoud Salah, and his aide Hussam Shahwan, Hamas-run Al Aqsa TV reported.

The Israeli military confirmed it carried out the attack, saying Mr Shahwan was the “head of Hamas Internal Security Forces in the southern Gaza Strip”, responsible for developing intelligence assessments in attacks on Israel's troops in Gaza.

The Hamas-run security administration included tens of thousands of police who maintained public order before the outbreak of the war. The police have largely vanished from streets in many areas after being targeted by Israel, contributing to a breakdown of law and order that has hindered the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid.

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said the strike on Al Mawasi showed there was no safe place in Gaza. “Another remainder that there is no humanitarian zone let alone a 'safe zone',” Mr Lazzarini posted on X.

Eight people were also killed and others injured in strikes at two road junctions, Al Ayoun and Al Lababidi, in western Gaza city. Four more were killed in an attack on a group of people near Askalan mosque at Al Shati camp in the west of Gaza. A strike also hit a building in central Khan Younis, killing six people and injuring others.

In a separate strike on Al Shati camp, four more Palestinians were killed and others injured, while a Palestinian was also killed in a strike on eastern Gaza city. Another Israeli attack, on a group of people in a town in eastern Khan Younis, killed two, according to Wafa.

Strikes on Deir Al Balah killed at least four people, with more deaths reported in attacks on Al Maghazi camp, also in central Gaza. In the north of the enclave, another 12 people were killed in attacks, including 10 in Jabalia Al Balad.

More than 45,500 Palestinians have died in Gaza since war broke out in October 2023, according to health officials in the enclave. Most of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been displaced and much of the tiny coastal strip is in ruins. The war was sparked by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 in which 1,200 people were killed and another 251 taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened on Wednesday to intensify attacks on Gaza if Hamas continued to fire rockets into Israel.

“I want to send a clear message from here to the heads of the terrorists in Gaza: if Hamas does not soon allow the release of the Israeli hostages from Gaza … and continues firing at Israeli communities, it will face blows of an intensity not seen in Gaza for a long time,” Mr Katz said after visiting the Israeli town of Netivot, which was recently targeted by rocket fire.

The renewed fire from Gaza in recent days has caused little damage in Israel and the rockets have been launched in far fewer numbers than in the early stages of the war, but they are a political blow for the Israeli government after nearly 15 months of fighting.