Dozens killed, wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza tent camp, Gaza agency says

(Reuters)

CAIRO, Sept 10 – Israeli missiles set ablaze a tent camp for displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza, killing or wounding 65 people, the enclave’s civil emergency service said on Tuesday, in what the Israeli military called a strike on a Hamas command centre.

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office put the number of fatalities at more than 40. It said that at least 60 others were wounded in the strikes and many remained missing as rescue workers continued their searches early on Tuesday.

Residents and medics said the tent encampment near Khan Younis in the Al-Mawasi area, which Israel has designated a humanitarian safe zone for displaced Palestinians, was struck by at least four missiles. The camp is crowded with families ordered by the Israeli military to flee there from elsewhere in the territory.

The Gaza civil emergency service said at least 20 tents caught fire, and missiles caused craters as deep as nine meters (30 feet). It said the 65 victims included women and children but did not immediately provide a breakdown of deaths and injuries.

There was no immediate comment from the Gaza health ministry, which compiles casualty figures. Earlier, the Hamas-aligned Shehab News Agency said 40 Palestinians were killed.

“Our teams are still moving out martyrs and wounded from the targeted area. It looks like a new Israeli massacre,” a Gaza civil emergency official said.

The official added that teams had been struggling to search for victims who might have been buried.