At least five people have been killed and more than a dozen wounded in Gaza after Israeli ground and air attacks, according to local medics. The deaths were reported on Monday, with several of the casualties occurring in and around displaced persons’ camps in the south and west of the territory.
Medical sources and first responders said at least four Palestinians, including a young girl, were killed in an Israeli air attack on the Khan Younis camp for displaced people in southern Gaza. Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis confirmed three deaths, a toll that has since risen to at least four. The hospital said the victims’ bodies were badly torn apart by shrapnel and that several wounded people, including a child and a woman, were being treated.
Khan Younis and Remal strikes leave dead and wounded
The hospital named the dead as Hossam al-Zamli, 21, Tamer Abu Sneima, 24, and Jouri al-Soufi, who was seven, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Education. Separately, a Palestinian news agency reported that one person was killed and others wounded in an Israeli drone strike on the Remal neighbourhood, west of Gaza City.
Al-Shifa Hospital said that man died when the drone hit a group of displaced people sheltering in a tent. Palestinian Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal said earlier on Monday that 11 people had been killed and 50 wounded by Israeli fire and air strikes across Gaza over the previous 24 hours.
Basal said that three people, including a child, were brought in after an Israeli air strike on a camp for displaced people in the al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis. He spoke to the AFP news agency.
Fire at Shujayea camp displaces hundreds of families
Israeli forces also set fire to a camp for displaced people at the Shujayea junction on Sunday night, according to local officials. The fire forced more than 200 families, or over 800 people, to flee, most of them women, children, elderly people and patients.
Gaza’s Ministry of Public Works and Housing said Israeli quadcopter drones set the camp ablaze at about 8pm. The fires consumed tents and belongings for several hours and continued past midnight. The ministry condemned the incident and called for urgent international aid, including shelter and essential supplies for the displaced families.
Death toll rises since October ceasefire
As of Monday, the Gaza health authorities’ total stood at 74,555 people killed and 175,727 injured in the war. Medical sources said 1,559 people had been killed and 5,608 injured since the United States-brokered ceasefire of October 11 last year.
Medical sources also said a large number of victims remain trapped under rubble and on the streets, and ambulance and rescue crews have been unable to reach them.
