UNITED NATIONS, Sep 12 (IPS) – On Tuesday, there was an airstrike in Al-Mawasi, a refugee camp located in the Gaza Strip. According to the Gaza Civil Defense Agency, 40 people died and more than 60 were injured. Despite being designated a “safe zone” by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the region has seen continuous airstrikes and armed hostilities since December 2023.
Before the war broke out in Gaza, Al-Mawasi was home to around 9,000 Palestinians. It was known as the “Food Basket” because of its very fertile agricultural conditions. This region is small, stretching about 14 kilometers.
Late last year, Israeli authorities announced that Al-Mawasi would be free from attacks during Israel’s occupation of Gaza. Thousands of displaced Palestinians flocked to the area, only to find that the camps lacked essential services, such as food, water, health care, and sanitation.
“The use of heavy weapons in densely populated areas does not make sense. The Palestinians moved to this area in Khan Younis to seek shelter and seek safety, after being repeatedly ordered to do so by the Israeli authorities”, said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the organization. Secretary-General, at the press conference of the United Nations (UN) on Tuesday.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) estimates that more than 1 million people have taken refuge in this small region. The IDF says Al-Mawasi was the target of this latest bombing because of reports from the terrorist organization, Hamas, in the settlements, saying they “attacked important Hamas terrorists who were working inside the command and control center. in the humanitarian area”. Hamas denied the claims.
The IDF added that only Hamas members were targeted in the latest airstrikes and that they tried to minimize the damage done to civilians by using “direct weapons”. They did not confirm or deny whether the residents of the area were warned before the bomb was detonated.
However, the scale of the bombs used in this attack closely matches previous indiscriminate attacks on displacement camps. Patrick Senft, research coordinator at Armament Research Services (ARES), said “The extensive damage and the size of the craters are consistent with the expected results of aerial bombs weighing several hundred kilograms”.
“In an overcrowded camp where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are scattered in makeshift tents, even the smallest bomb can cause massive damage and death. Now, imagine the damage when the Israeli army uses US-made MK-84 grenades against them,” said Maha Hussaini, strategic director of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, in a post shared by X.
The explosion created three significant craters in the displacement camp, trapping several Palestinians under the rubble. The Ministry of Health in Gaza says, “A number of victims are still under the rubble, under the sand, and on the roads, and ambulance workers and civil protection workers cannot reach them and pick them up, and they have not reached the hospitals”.
Tuesday’s airstrike was one of the deadliest in Al-Mawasi since the war began last year. Despite previous opinions that Al-Mawasi has been freed from the fighting, the Secretary-General of the UN, António Guterres, said that there is no safe place in Gaza. A cease-fire agreement is essential to prevent further losses.
Tor Wennesland, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, informed the journalists that “international humanitarian law, including the principles of separation, moderation, and security measures against attacks, must be maintained at all times”.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram
© Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
