An Israeli strike hit a tent housing displaced Palestinian families in the al-Iqlimi area of Mawasi, west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, on the evening of Thursday, July 16, 2026, leaving a number of residents wounded. The area, designated by Israeli authorities as a so-called “safe zone” for displaced civilians, has been struck repeatedly during the war despite its intended humanitarian status, a pattern that Palestinian officials and international monitors have repeatedly criticized as endangering people who have already been forced from their homes multiple times.
Medical and civil defense teams responded to the site to evacuate the wounded, though access to hospitals in southern Gaza has remained constrained by fuel shortages, damaged infrastructure, and the sheer volume of casualties arriving from strikes across the strip. Residents described panic and confusion among displaced families sheltering in the densely packed tent encampments, many of whom have already been displaced several times since the war began.
The strike adds to a string of incidents in the Mawasi area in recent weeks, part of a broader pattern in which strikes have continued in tent-dwelling areas despite the announced ceasefire framework, prompting Palestinian factions to repeatedly accuse Israel of violating the terms of the agreement.
