Israeli army accused of killing hundreds in Gaza 'safe zones'

Gaza authorities raise death toll of Israel's war to more than 66,000

Palestinians watch as the Mhanna tower collapses amid heavy smoke, during an Israeli air strike in the Tal El Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza city. AFP

Gaza authorities have accused the Israeli army of killing about 2,000 people in areas it had designated as safe and “humanitarian” after forcing them to leave Gaza city.

The Gaza media office said the army had misled people by claiming central and southern areas, including Al Mawasi, were safe – while continuing to strike there.

The Israeli army has carried out 133 strikes on the southern and central governorates since August 11, when it started an offensive on Gaza city, the office said. It added that the 1,903 people killed in these areas constituted 46 per cent of all reported deaths across the Gaza Strip during that period.

“We also call on the international community and the countries of the free world to immediately halt the crimes of genocide and aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip, and to work to rescue the remaining civilians before it is too late,” the Gaza media office said.

Dozens more people were killed across Gaza by Israeli air strikes and gunfire on Sunday, official Palestinian media said. Israel said its troops “continue to expand operations” in Gaza city, and that five of those killed were “terrorists” firing an anti-tank missile at troops.

The Israeli army acknowledged it was operating outside Gaza city, with the air force carrying out 140 strikes across the strip in the space of a day, and troops in the south described as having “eliminated terrorists and dismantled observation equipment and military infrastructure”.

The Israeli army began an expanded ground offensive in Gaza city this month. About 350,000 to 400,000 Palestinians have left what was once the strip's most populous area, but hundreds of thousands remain, according to estimates by the UN's World Food Programme.

As the offensive began, the Israeli army increased pressure on inhabitants to leave, bombing high-rise buildings and dropping leaflets ordering an “evacuation” from Gaza city. “Every family that relocates to the south will receive the most generous humanitarian aid,” the army claimed.

Palestinians have been left living in tents - if they can afford them - after the Israeli army forced them out of Gaza city. Reuters

Some Palestinians who fled the army's advance on Gaza city have described to The National how they found only hunger and despair in the south, despite the Israeli claims of better conditions. Others were reluctant to leave, fearing an Israeli design to relocate them for good.

Israeli troops are attempting to take control of Gaza city, which Israeli leaders say is a Hamas stronghold. Israel says the area is home to between 2,000 and 3,000 Hamas fighters and the army operation authorised by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu aims to neutralise the group's central command.

But the offensive has been widely condemned over fears it will worsen the desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza. The UN says more than half a million people are trapped in famine after a months-long Israeli aid blockade.

On Sunday, at least 23 people were killed in Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip, medical sources told official news agency Wafa. The deaths included eight people, including children and women, killed in two separate strikes on Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.

Israel began its assault on Gaza nearly two years ago after an attack led by Hamas killed about 1,200 people, with 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, Israeli troops have killed more than 66,000 Palestinians in the enclave, according to Gaza's health authorities, displaced the entire population, and crippled the territory's health system.

A global hunger monitor says famine has taken hold in parts of Gaza, while several rights experts say the army's conduct in the war amounts to genocide.

Israel strongly denies this, saying the war is an act of self-defence and that claims of genocide are based on Hamas’s assertions.