At least 8 killed in Israeli strikes on ‘humanitarian zone’ in southern Gaza

ANKARA

At least eight civilians, including a child, were killed in Israeli strikes on a “humanitarian zone” for displaced Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday, medical sources said.

Five people lost their lives when an Israeli drone fired two missiles into a gathering of civilians in al-Mawasi west of Khan Younis, the sources said.

Al-Mawasi was designated by the Israeli army as a “humanitarian zone” for displaced Palestinians amid Israel’s ongoing offensive on the Gaza Strip.

Another Israeli reconnaissance drone hit commercial shops in Sikka neighborhood in central Khan Younis, killing at least three people, including a child, local sources said.

A medical source confirmed that the bodies of eight people were transferred to the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis after the Israeli attacks.

There was no comment yet from the Israeli army on the report.

Separately, four Palestinians were killed in Israeli bombardment in Tel al-Hawa west of Gaza City, Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal said.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

More than 39,300 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 90,800 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi