ALMAWASI, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES   -   Gaza’s civil defence agency said an Israeli strike Tuesday on a humanitarian zone in the Palestinian territory killed 40 people, with the Israeli army saying it had targeted a Hamas command centre in the area.

The strike hit Al-Mawasi -- in Gaza’s southern province of Khan Yunis -- which was designated a safe zone by the Israeli military early in the war, with tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians seeking refuge there. Egyptian, Qatari and US efforts to broker an elusive ceasefire have focused on securing the release of hostages taken by Palestinian group on October 7 in exchange for a pause in Israel’s offensive. Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said a truce and hostage release deal would give Israel a “strategic opportunity” to address other security challenges. In Gaza, civil defence official Mohammed al-Mughair said 40 dead and 60 wounded were taken to nearby hospitals following the strike on Al-Mawasi early Tuesday.

“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 told AFP. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Basal said people sheltering in the camp in the dunes along the Mediterranean coast had not been warned of the strike. The strike left behind “three deep craters”, he said, adding: “There are entire families who disappeared under the sand.”

Survivors of the strike scambled to retrieve their belongings from the rubble, including mattresses and clothing, an AFP journalist reported.

“They told us to come to Al-Mawasi, so we came to Al-Mawasi, we settled here. The area was bombed without prior warning, they didn’t ask us to flee to a safer area or anything,” a Palestinian man told AFP without giving his name.