At least 29 people killed in Israeli attack on Gaza displacement camp

At least 29 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded when Israeli air strikes hit a tent camp for displaced persons outside a school in southern Gaza, health center officials say.

Gaza’s Hamas-run fitness ministry on Tuesday cited the collision at the gate of al-Awda College within the city of Abasan al-Kabira, east of Khan Yunis city.

One observer described the number of casualties as “unimaginable”.

The Israeli military noted that it had used an old “precision weapon” to target “a terrorist from the military wing of Hamas” who had taken part in the October 7 attack on Israel. It also said it was “looking into reports that civilians have been harmed” near the school.

This hit was once condemned by the ECU union and Germany.

“The killing of people seeking refuge in schools is unacceptable,” the German Foreign Ministry said in a comment on X. “The repeated attacks on schools by the Israeli military must stop and be quickly investigated.”

The incident comes as Israeli forces ordered civilians to evacuate Abasan al-Kabira and the Japanese alternative farm of Khan Yunis, forcing thousands to flee.

Several towns had been destroyed in a prolonged Israeli offensive before this move, but large numbers of Palestinians had moved there to flee the ongoing Israeli operation in Rafah.

The BBC has spoken to observers who said that the area around al-Awda College was once filled with people displaced from villages east of Khan Younis, and who described the bloody aftermath of the attack in a crystal clear component.

According to observers, the attack caused widespread destruction and the deaths of girls and children.

Fragments of the frame were scattered around the website and several people living in tents outside the school were also injured.

Al Jazeera TV posted a crystal-clear video detailing the week the missile crashed on the block.

Some spectators are watching a football match on the lawn of a college and rush to the rescue after a noisy explosion occurs within the scene.

Some calls can also be heard as the cameraman runs towards a side road that is strewn with debris. Dead and injured people are also seen lying in the garden.

Ayman al-Dahma, 21, told the BBC that the generation segment included more than 3,000 from across the country, which he said included a marketplace and home manufacturing.

Describing the number of casualties as “unimaginable”, he said they had traceable numbers of people whose limbs had been amputated by the blast.

He remained steadfast: “They said it was a safe place – there was water and food, there were schools and everything… Suddenly a rocket falls on you and everyone around you.”

Mohammed Awadeh Anjeh told the BBC that the group were busy “living their normal lives” with investors around the country and the market when the crash occurred.

He continued: “Suddenly, while we were sitting, a voice came. It got dark… I was feeding my little child.

“I dont know what happen. Suddenly, I took it and started running… and while I was running, I saw that my leg was bleeding.

He described a “terrible” scene and mentioned that he had seen parts of the frame scattered along the road.

Ikram Salout said that early warnings of potential damage to the section were wrong, which he told the BBC was due to the war forcing people out of their homes.

“There are many displaced people there – you couldn’t even walk on the streets, there were so many tents and people, including young people.”

He added, “The injuries we saw were severe, even in young children.”

A video from the Nasir Gym of Khan Younis, where casualties from Abasan al-Kabira were taken, shows several dead and seriously injured people, including several children, on the floor of a room.

This was the fourth attack on schools hosting displaced persons in the last four days.

The Israeli military said it launched the first three moves because Hamas politicians, police officers and fighters were using them as bases:

• On Saturday, 16 people were killed in an attack on a school run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNARWA) in the Nussirat refugee camp in the central Gaza city, where about 2,000 displaced persons are sheltering. Hamas-run fitness ministry
• A senior Hamas official and officials from three other countries were killed in an attack on a church-run school in Gaza City on Sunday, local sources said.
• On Monday evening, several people were reportedly injured in an attack on another college run by Unarwa in Nusirat.

The head of Unrwa, Philippe Lazzarini, said that two thirds of its schools in Gaza have been razed since the beginning of the war, and some have been destroyed by “bombing”.

He wrote on

“This blatant disregard for international humanitarian law cannot become the new normal.”

In a separate development in northern Gaza on Wednesday, the Israeli military said its troops had launched an overnight operation against Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters who were operating at the Unrwa headquarters in Gaza City and using it as a means to carry out attacks. Were being used as a base.

The army said the troops had opened “a defined corridor to facilitate the evacuation of civilians” from that part even before they entered the formation and “eliminated the terrorists in close combat”.

There was no immediate comment from Unarva.

Israeli ground forces have re-entered several areas of Gaza City over the past two weeks, as the military said intelligence indicated that Hamas and PIJ fighters had regrouped there since the beginning of the year.

On October 7, Israeli forces launched an operation in Gaza to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel, during which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 38,240 people have been killed in Gaza so far, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.