Israeli air strikes on a tent camp for displaced Palestinians have killed and wounded 65 people in southern Gaza, the enclave’s civil emergency service reports, as the Israeli military says it targeted a Hamas command centre.
Residents and medics said a tent encampment near Khan Younis in the Al-Mawasi area, a designated humanitarian zone, was struck by at least four missiles. The camp is crowded with displaced Palestinians who have fled from elsewhere in the territory.
The Gaza civil emergency service said at least 20 tents caught on fire, and missiles caused craters as deep as nine metres. It said the 65 victims included women and children but did not provide a breakdown of deaths and injuries.
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today 
There was no immediate comment from the Gaza health ministry, which compiles casualty figures. Earlier, the Hamas-aligned Shehab News Agency said 40 Palestinians were killed.
“Our teams are still moving out martyrs and wounded from the targeted area. It looks like a new Israeli massacre,” a Gaza civil emergency official said.
The official added that teams have been struggling to search for victims who might have been buried.
The Israeli military said it “struck significant Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command and control centre embedded inside the Humanitarian Area in Khan Younis.”
“The terrorists advanced and carried out terror attacks against IDF troops and the state of Israel,” the statement said, referring to the Israeli Defence Forces.
‘A clear lie’
Hamas, the Islamist group that controlled Gaza before the conflict, denied Israeli allegations gunmen existed in the targeted area, and rejected accusations it exploited civilian areas for military purposes.
“This is a clear lie that aims to justify these ugly crimes. The resistance has denied several times that any of its members exist within civilian gatherings or using these places for military purposes,” Hamas said in a statement.
Ambulances raced between the tent camp and a nearby hospital, while Israeli jets could still be heard overhead, residents said.
Nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been forced from their homes at least once, and some have had to flee as many as 10 times.
The war was triggered on October 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza has killed more than 40,900 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s health ministry.
The two warring sides each blame the other for a failure so far to reach a ceasefire that would end the fighting and see the release of hostages.
The United Nations General Assembly is likely to vote next week on a Palestinian draft resolution demanding Israel end “its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” within six months.
The key aim of the draft resolution, written by the Palestinian Authority and seen by Reuters, is to welcome a July advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice that said Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements is illegal and should be withdrawn.
But while the advisory opinion by the United Nations’ highest court — known as the World Court — said this should be done “as rapidly as possible,” the draft General Assembly resolution puts a six-month timeline on it.
The Arab Group, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Non-Aligned Movement on Monday asked for the 193-member UN General Assembly to vote on September 18. The language of the eight-page draft resolution could change before it is put to a vote.
The vote would come just days before world leaders arrive in New York for their annual gathering at the United Nations.
