Israeli strikes kill 20 Palestinians in Gaza, some in attacks on tents

CAIRO/GAZA: Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed 20 Palestinians on Monday, including six people in attacks on tents housing displaced families, medics said.

Four people, two of them children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a tent encampment in the coastal area of Al-Mawasi, which is designated as a humanitarian zone, while two died in temporary shelters in the southern city of Rafah and another in drone fire, Gaza health officials said.

Another airstrike on a house in Gaza City killed seven people and wounded 10, medics said. Later on Monday, an Israeli airstrike killed four people in the Nuseirat camp in the central area of the coastal enclave, they added.

In Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, relatives of Palestinians killed in an airstrike on tents housing displaced families sat beside bodies wrapped in blankets and white shrouds to pay farewell before walking them to graves.

“My brother wasn’t the only one; many others have been martyred in this brutal way - children torn to pieces, civilians shredded. They weren’t carrying weapons or even knew ‘the resistance’, yet they were ripped apart into fragments,” said Mohammed Aboul Hassan, who lost his brother in the attack.“We remain steadfast, patient and resilient, and by the will of God, we will never falter. We will stay steadfast and patient,” he said.