An Israeli strike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in Gaza killed at least 19 people and wounded 60 early on Tuesday, September 10, Palestinian officials said. Israel said it targeted senior Hamas militants with precise munitions.
The overnight strike hit Al-Muwasi, a sprawl of crowded tent camps along the Gaza coast that Israel designated as a humanitarian zone for hundreds of thousands of civilians to seek shelter from the Israel-Hamas war.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said it confirmed that at least 19 people were killed in the strike and that the toll may rise as more bodies are recovered. The Civil Defense, first responders who operate under the Hamas-run government, had earlier said 40 people were killed. The Israeli military disputed that toll.
The ministry is also part of the Hamas-run government but its figures are widely seen as generally reliable. It maintains detailed records and its tallies from previous wars have largely coincided with figures from independent researchers, the United Nations and even the Israeli military.
Both the Health Ministry and the Civil Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the discrepancy of their tolls.
One of three hospitals that took in casualties from the strike, Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, said around two dozen bodies were brought in.
The Israeli military said it had struck Hamas militants in a command-and-control center embedded in the area. It identified three of the militants, saying they were senior operatives who were directly involved in the October 7 attack and other recent attacks against Israel and Israeli forces.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesperson, disputed the initial reports of the number of casualties in a post on X, saying they "do not line up with the information available to the (Israeli army), the precise weapons used and the accuracy of the strike."
Hamas released a statement denying any militants were in the area, calling the Israeli allegations a "blatant lie." Neither Israel nor Hamas provided evidence to substantiate their claims.