Israeli attack on al-Mawasi camp involved two strikes – the second was lethal: Report
The Israeli attack near the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) base in the al-Mawasi tent camp that killed at least 25 people on Friday began with a munition explosion that only made a loud bang and bright flash, The Associated Press (AP) news agency reports.
Mona Ashour, whose husband was killed in the attack, said he and other people went out to investigate what was happening after the sound of the first explosion.
That’s when the second strike hit.
“We were in our tent, and they hit with a ‘sound bomb’ near the Red Cross tents, and then my husband came out at the first sound,” Ashour told the AP, outside Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis. “Then they hit with the second one, which was a little closer to the entrance of the Red Cross,” she said.
Hasan al-Najjar said his two sons were killed helping people who panicked after the first explosion. “My two sons went after they heard the women and children screaming,” he said at the hospital. “They went to save the women, and they struck with the second projectile, and my sons were martyred. They struck the place twice,” he said.
Israeli military helicopter comes under surface-to-air missile attack in Rafah: Monitors
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) fighters participating in the battle for Rafah city fired a surface-to-air (SAM) missile at an Israeli helicopter on Friday, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) say in their latest joint battlefield report.
The US-based defence think tanks said the helicopter was evacuating Israeli casualties from Rafah when it was targeted by PIJ fighters armed with a Russian model SA-18 Grouse portable missile launcher.
Elsewhere in the Gaza Strip on Friday, Palestinian fighters fired multiple mortars, rockets and rocket-propelled grenades at Israeli forces deployed along the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, in Rafah in the south, and at the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) border crossing with Israel.
Three rockets were also launched from the Nuseirat area of central Gaza towards Israeli territory on Friday, the ISW/CTP said, adding that all three fell in open areas.
Israeli troops infiltrating western Rafah district
In the last 24 hours, there has been an increase in Israeli attacks in one of the areas designated as a safe zone.
Witnesses said Israeli tanks carried out a sudden and unexpected incursion in al-Mawasi, launching a number of artillery shells towards the evacuation centres and makeshift tents.
The entire area of al-Mawasi is an evacuation centre. It’s a very tiny strip of land where more than 100,000 Palestinians have been taking refuge. It’s the place where field hospitals have been established and it’s a centre for humanitarian organisations.
There is a partial infiltration for the Israeli troops to the western portion of Rafah district, despite all the US warnings on expanding the military operation in Rafah. They have full operational control of the Philadelphi Corridor.
Gaza sees highest daily death toll since Nuseirat massacre
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, Israeli attacks killed 101 Palestinians and wounded 169 in the latest 24-hour reporting period. “A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defence crews cannot reach them,” the Health Ministry said.
This is the highest daily death toll recorded in the enclave by the ministry since June 8, when Israeli forces killed at least 274 Palestinians to free four Israeli captives in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
