Gaza health officials said Israeli military raids on tents housing displaced people in Gaza on Friday killed 25 people and wounded 50. Al-Mawasi, a coastal community in the southern Gaza Strip, close to the city of Rafah.
The report could not be independently verified and the Israeli military said it was “reviewing the incident”.
Al-Mawasi encompasses an area where the Israeli military has told people fleeing the fighting in Rafah to go for safety, although such areas have also been attacked during the war. It was not clear from the description given by Gaza officials whether the attack took place in that area.
The Israeli military said initial investigations showed “no indication” that an attack took place in the security zone. The military did not say whether the attack took place elsewhere in Al-Mawasi, but photos and videos from the scene clearly showed that an attack did take place.
Dr. Marwan Al-Homs, coordinator of the Red Cross field hospital in Almawasi, said most of the wounded brought to the hospital were women and children, but there were also some young men.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its volunteers counted 18 people dead and 35 injured in the attack. Gaza health officials later gave a higher death toll of 25 dead and 50 injured.
It was not immediately clear what the target of the attack was. Hamas and its allies at war with Israel often carry out operations among civilians. Israel says it causes civilian casualties when targeting militants; Palestinians accuse Israel of indiscriminate attacks, even targeting non-combatants.
Rafah, which borders Egypt, has been the focus of Israeli military operations since early May. At the beginning of the war, about 1 million displaced people from other parts of Gaza poured into Rafah, but they fled again when the Israeli offensive began. Many went to Al-Mawasi, where aid organizations say shelter, sanitation, water and food are severely inadequate.
The Al-Mawasi area has also been hit by Israeli attacks in the past, killing dozens of civilians who had taken shelter in a tent camp.
