Palestinian media reports more than 71 killed and 289 wounded in an Israeli airstrike on Saturday morning, July 13, in the al-Mawasi area in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis. Al-Mawasi is part of the Israeli-designated “humanitarian zone” in Gaza. The Israeli occupation army says the target of the strike was Muhammad Deif, the commander of Hamas’s military wing.

Victims of the massacre transported to the Nasser Medical Complex in Gaza, July 13, 2024 (Photo: WAFA)

Around 10:30 am in the morning, Israeli warplanes launched several massive airstrikes targeting the densely populated Al-Mawasi area, which is home to displaced residents from across the Gaza Strip. The attacks initially resulted in the killing of dozens of civilians who were subsequently transported to the Nasser Medical Complex, with over 100 others injured, some critically.

Reports indicate that the Israeli military committed a major massacre by shelling refugee camps in the region, resulting in hundreds of casualties, including members of the civil defense. Rescue teams continue to retrieve dozens of casualties from the sites of the bombings.

Local health authorities warned that the region’s hospitals are incapable of accommodating the large number of casualties, exacerbated by the destruction of Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure by the Israeli occupation forces.

Al-Mawasi has been designated as a safe humanitarian zone by the Israeli army, which has been demanding Palestinians from all over the Gaza Strip to move to the area—falsely claiming the area was a safe have—since the outbreak of the war in early October 2023. The ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza since October last year has so far resulted in 38,345 documented Palestinian fatalities, with an additional 88,295 others injured.  Thousands more are feared trapped under the rubble and in streets, inaccessible to rescue and ambulance crews.