Tank shelling kills nine at UN shelter in south Gaza: Official
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A photo taken from Rafah showing smoke billowing over Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, amid ongoing battles between Israel and Hamas.
PHOTO: AFP
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GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories - Tank shelling on a United Nations shelter on Jan 24 killed nine people in Gaza’s main southern city of Khan Younis, said the Gaza head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
“Two tank rounds hit building that shelters 800 people – reports now 9 dead and 75 injured,” UNRWA’s Gaza director Thomas White said on X, formerly Twitter.
The head of UNRWA, Mr Philippe Lazzarini, condemned the attack and said the number of dead was likely to rise.
“Once again a blatant disregard of basic rules of war,” Mr Lazzarini said on X.
He added that the compound had been clearly marked as a UN facility and its coordinates shared with the Israeli authorities, without specifying responsibility for the shelling.
When asked about the incident, the Israeli army told AFP it had “ruled out that this incident is a result of an aerial or artillery strike by the IDF (Israel Defence Forces)”.
“A thorough review of the operations of the forces in the vicinity is under way,” the army said, adding it was examining the possibility that the strike was a “result of Hamas fire”.
Teams from UNRWA and the World Health Organisation were trying to reach the shelter, which has been blocked for two days, Mr White said.
Earlier, he said the UNRWA training centre had been hit, with “buildings ablaze and mass casualties”.
UN officials gave different figures of the number of people sheltering at the facility, with Mr Lazzarini saying 30,000 displaced people had been there.
Footage aired on Al Jazeera Arabic showed fire raging and thick plumes of smoke rising out of the building.
The United States said it “deplored” the incident.
Mr Lazzarini said on Jan 23 the same shelter had been hit during military operations.
At least six displaced people were killed and “many more injured” in the fighting, he said.
Fighting around hospitals
Intense fighting was also reported on Jan 24 close to hospitals in Khan Younis.
The Hamas government media office said “dozens of Israeli tanks are surrounding Nasser hospital from all sides, except for a corridor for displaced people to leave.”
The Israeli army said on Jan 23 it had “encircled” Khan Younis, which has become the epicentre of recent fighting.
The Gaza war began with Hamas’ unprecedented Oct 7 attacks,
Militants also seized 250 hostages, and Israel says around 132 remain in Gaza. That number includes the bodies of at least 28 dead hostages, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
In response, Israel has carried out a relentless military offensive that has killed at least 25,700 people
