Palestinian medical officials say two Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 14 people, including two children and a woman, most in an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone.
One strike late Monday hit a makeshift cafeteria used by displaced people in Muwasi, the center of the so-called humanitarian zone. At least 11 people were killed, including two children, according to officials at Nasser Hospital, where the casualties were taken. Video from the scene showed men pulling bloodied wounded from among tables and chairs set up in the sand in an enclosure made of corrugated metal sheets.
The strike came hours after the Israeli military announced an expansion of the zone, where it has told Palestinians evacuating from other parts of Gaza to take refuge. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are sheltering in sprawling tent camps in and around Muwasi, a largely desolate area of dunes and agricultural fields with few facilities or services along the Mediterranean coast of southern Gaza.
Israel faces a deadline this week for the Biden administration’s ultimatum for it to allow more aid into Gaza or risk possible restrictions on U.S. military funding.
Another strike early Tuesday hit a house in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing three people, including a woman, according to al-Awda Hospital, which received the casualties. The strike also wounded 11 others, it said.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on either strike.
Israel’s 19-month-old brutal campaign in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, with more than half the dead reportedly women and children. The war in Gaza began when Hamas stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killed around 1,200 people, and abducted about 250. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, and about a third are believed to be dead.
