Khan Younis safe zone: Israel launches deadly strike on al-Mawasi

Israeli airstrikes on al-Mawasi “humanitarian zone” in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 19 people and injured a further 60, according to witnesses and medical officials in the blockaded Palestinian territory.

At least four missiles hit the overcrowded supposed “safe zone” on the coast in the early hours of Tuesday, causing dozens of tents to catch fire and leaving craters as deep as 9 metres, the civil emergency service said. Hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering in Mawasi, where conditions are dire, after being ordered to move there by the Israeli military.

“Entire families disappeared in the Mawasi Khan Younis massacre, under the sand, in deep holes,” the Gaza civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal told Agence France-Presse.