A Palestinian health official said on Wednesday that at least 21 people were killed by an Israeli strike on a camp housing displaced people in Gaza.
Atif Al-Hout, the director of Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, said at least 28 people were wounded in the strike.
The Israeli military said its aircraft struck senior Hamas militants “involved in terrorist activities” in the area. The military said that the strike had set off secondary explosions, indicating explosives present in the area were set off.
It was not possible to independently confirm the Israeli claims, and the strike could also have ignited fuel, cooking gas canisters or other materials in the camp.
At least 15 bodies arrived at the hospital, but reaching a precise number was difficult because many of the dead were dismembered, some without heads or badly burned.
A Palestinian inspects the rubble of a destroyed building following an overnight Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP)
The strike hit in the Muwasi area, a sprawling coastal camp housing hundreds of thousands of displaced people near the southern city of Khan Younis. It came after Israeli forces struck targets in other areas of the Palestinian enclave.
Earlier strikes on central Gaza killed eight people, including four children.
Also on Wednesday, Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security agency said Israeli forces recovered the body of a hostage held in Gaza.
Itay Svirsky was captured alive from southern Israel during Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack. Israel believes that he was killed while in captivity by his captors who held on to his body.
The Shin Bet did not disclose details of the mission to recover Mr Svirsky’s body.
Israel’s war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 people. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 44,500 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.