Gaza's civil defense agency said early Tuesday, September 10, that a strike on the Al-Mawasi humanitarian zone in the Palestinian territory's main southern city of Khan Yunis killed 40 people and wounded 60 others, with the Israeli army saying it had hit a Hamas command center in the area.
Civil defense official Mohammed Al-Mughair told AFP that "40 martyrs and 60 injured were recovered and transferred" to nearby hospitals following the strike. "Our crews are still working to recover 15 missing people as a result of targeting the tents of the displaced in Mawasi, Khan Yunis," Mughair added.
Civil defense sources said separately that the strike had left behind large craters. "Entire families disappeared in the Mawasi Khan Yunis massacre, under the sand, in deep holes," said civil defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal.
The Israeli military said in a statement early Tuesday that its aircraft had "struck significant Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command and control center embedded inside the Humanitarian Area in Khan Yunis". "The terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip continue to systematically abuse civilian and humanitarian infrastructure, including the designated Humanitarian Area, to carry out terrorist activity against the State of Israel and IDF troops," it added.
Hamas said in a statement on Tuesday that claims its fighters were present at the scene of the strike were "a blatant lie".
The UN chief said Monday that the United Nations has offered to monitor any cease-fire in Gaza and demanded an end to the worst death and destruction he has seen in his more than seven-year tenure. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in an interview with The Associated Press that it's "unrealistic" to think the UN could play a role in Gaza's future, either by administering the territory or providing a peacekeeping force, because Israel is unlikely to accept a UN role.
But he said that "the UN will be available to support any cease-fire." The United Nations has had a military monitoring mission in the Middle East, known as UNTSO, since 1948, and "from our side, this was one of the hypotheses that we've put on the table," he said. "Of course, we'll be ready to do whatever the international community asked for us," Guterres said. "The question is whether the parties would accept it, and in particular whether Israel would accept it."
Israel's military assault on Gaza, triggered by Hamas' attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, has stretched for 11 months, with recent cease-fire talks failing to reach a breakthrough and violence in the West Bank reaching new highs.
Stressing the urgency of a cease-fire now, Guterres said: "The level of suffering we are witnessing in Gaza is unprecedented in my mandate as secretary-general of the United Nations. I've never seen such a level of death and destruction as we are seeing in Gaza in the last few months."
The war has killed over 40,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry, part of Gaza's Hamas government, does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count though it says about half of the dead have been women and children. Israel says at least 17,000 militants are among the dead. The war has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million people, often multiple times.
Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon reacted to Guterres' comments saying, "It is disappointing to see the UN advocate for a cease-fire without mentioning the hostages and without condemning Hamas." "A cease-fire cannot – and will not – take place so long as our remaining hostages taken from us on Oct. 7 remain in captivity in Gaza," he said in a statement. "I urge the UN Security Council to urgently convene and condemn Hamas in the strongest possible terms and demand the release of all 101 hostages in Gaza."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government have accused the UN of being anti-Israel and have been highly critical of UN humanitarian operations in Gaza, including accusing UN workers of collaborating with Hamas. He also has voiced skepticism about peacekeeping missions, saying only Israel can protect itself.