At least 70 killed in Israeli strike on refugee camp in central Gaza, health ministry says
An Israeli airstrike on a refugee camp in central Gaza has killed at least 70 people, Palestinian health officials have said as they warned the toll was likely to rise and the strikes that began hours before midnight continued into Christmas Day, The Guardian reports.
The fatalities at the Maghazi camp, east of Deir al-Balah, included at least 12 women and seven children, according to early hospital figures issued late on Sunday night.
“We were all targeted,” said Ahmad Turokmani, who lost several family members including his daughter and grandson. “There is no safe place in Gaza anyway,” he told the Associated Press.
The Palestinian health ministry spokesperson, Ashraf al-Qidra, said the death toll was likely to climb. “What is happening at the Maghazi camp is a massacre that is being committed on a crowded residential square,” he told Reuters.
The Israeli military said it was reviewing the incident. A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said: “Despite the challenges posed by Hamas terrorists operating within civilian areas in Gaza, the IDF is committed to international law including taking feasible steps to minimise harm to civilians.”
Hamas issued a statement calling the airstrike “a horrific massacre” and said it was “a new war crime”.
The camp has suffered previous strikes including one in November when the Gaza health ministry said more than 30 people were killed.
