‘People torn to pieces’ in Israeli airstrike on Gaza tent camp

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, the airstrikes killed at least 19 people and wounded dozens more. It was Israel’s fifth attack on the area since designating it a place of refuge, and Tuesday’s bombings brought the total death toll from these attacks to more than 150.

The Israeli military claimed that it had “struck significant Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command and control centre embedded inside the humanitarian area.” Hamas denied the allegation.

The Israeli army began directing Palestinians to Al-Mawasi in the first months of its bombardment of the Strip. Home to only 6,000 people before the war, it quickly swelled into a mass displacement camp accommodating hundreds of thousands in makeshift tents. Israel’s invasion of Rafah in May triggered a further influx of refugees to the coastal area.

Israel’s previous bombardment of Al-Mawasi, on July 13, was even deadlier: that attack killed 90 Palestinians, with Israel claiming it had targeted Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif. The extent of the destruction on Tuesday suggests that, like in that attack, the Israeli military dropped 2,000-pound bombs on the densely-packed tent camp.