![[FILE] Palestinians inspect the scene after an Israeli air strike in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, 13 July 2024. EFE-EPA/MOHAMMED SABER](https://i0.wp.com/efe.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/rss-efe99eb45e0e17ad28fd38e956419c4fb3bd8f7a16dw.jpg?fit=1920%2C1280&ssl=1)
Jerusalem/Gaza, July 16 (EFE).- At least 17 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on the “humanitarian zone” of Mawasi, designated as such by the Israeli Army, in the southern Gaza Strip, according to Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry.
![[FILE] Palestinians carry the body of a man killed after an Israeli air strike in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, 13 July 2024. EFE/EPA/MOHAMMED SABER](https://i0.wp.com/efe.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/rss-efe5f51eef7eb5f1d7a38e411dce322396ef2fe1c46w.jpg?fit=1920%2C1280&ssl=1)
The ministry reported at least 26 injuries from the attack on Monday, first reported by the Palestinian media on Tuesday afternoon.
The Israeli Army has not yet commented but told EFE that it was “investigating the reports.”
Israel bombed Mawasi on Saturday, killing 90 Gazans and injuring more than 300 in an attack targeting Mohammed Deif, the chief commander of the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.
However, the army has not yet been able to confirm his death.
The armed forces then attacked a location where Deif was with his right-hand man, Rafaa Salameh, the commander of the Khan Yunis brigade. Salameh’s death was confirmed on Sunday.
Mawasi is the designated humanitarian zone even as humanitarian organizations have said the beach area lacked the necessary conditions to accommodate evacuees.
The army ordered the evacuation of Palestinians to Mawasi in May when it launched an operation ostensibly to target Hamas military infrastructure in the southern Rafah area.
In a separate airstrike on Monday, the Israeli military targeted the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing eight people, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The attack, which also injured six, struck the al-Razi school, part of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
Two days ago, the army hit another UNRWA school in Nuseirat, killing 17 people and injuring 80.
Since the beginning of the war, 38,713 people have lost their lives, mostly women and children, in relentless Israeli bombings on Gaza. Nearly 90,000 have been injured.
The figure does not include thousands of bodies buried under the rubble of residential buildings razed by Israeli airstrikes on the strip. EFE
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