By EFE
16 Jul 2024, 15:38 PM EDT
JERUSALEM/GAZA – At least 40 people were killed on Monday in two Israeli airstrikes, one on the “humanitarian zone” of Mawasi in southern Gaza, with 17 dead, and another on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the centre, where 23 people died, the Hamas government in the enclave reported.
The attack in Nuseirat, which targeted a school run by the UN refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA), also injured 73 people, while the attack in Mawasi left 26 wounded.
Among the victims of these attacks is journalist Mohamed Mishmish, director of a program on Al Aqsa radio, bringing the total number of reporters killed in the war to 160, according to the Hamas government’s count, which includes writers, intellectuals and influencers.
The Israeli army has not yet commented on the attacks, although it assured EFE that it is “investigating the reports” in this regard.
Israel had already bombed Mawasi, west of the town of Khan Yunis, on Saturday, killing another 90 Gazans and wounding more than 300 in an attack that targeted Mohamed Deif, commander-in-chief of the al-Qassam Brigades – the armed wing of Hamas – whose fate remains uncertain.
The armed forces then bombed a location where Deif was located along with his right-hand man, Rafaa Salameh – commander of the Khan Yunis brigade – whose death Israel was able to confirm on Sunday.
Mawasi is the humanitarian zone to which the Israeli army ordered the evacuation of Palestinians who were in Rafah (south) in May, when it launched an operation against this territory.
On the other hand, just two days ago the Army launched a bombing raid on another UNRWA school in Nuseirat, killing 17 people and wounding 80.
Hamas authorities in the enclave denounced today that Israel is concentrating its attacks in the center of the Strip against UNRWA schools, where some 80,000 displaced people live: and also in Mawasi, described by Israel as a “safe zone” and where there are hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
“It attacks them in a premeditated, planned and targeted manner with the aim of premeditatedly killing and achieving the greatest possible number of victims, in light of the American support for the crime of genocide in Gaza,” the Hamas government denounced.
Since the start of the war, 38,713 people have died – most of them women and children – while the total number of wounded has risen to 89,166. This does not include the thousands of bodies that remain under the rubble of Gaza, which rescue teams have not been able to access, according to local health authorities.
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