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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Jacob Phillips

Children and woman among 14 killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza, officials say

Relatives mourn Palestinians killed in an Israeli strike on a cafe, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis - (REUTERS)

A woman and two children are among 14 people killed in two Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, Palestinian medical officials have said.

One strike late on Monday hit a makeshift cafe used by displaced people in Muwasi, the centre of the so-called humanitarian zone.

At least 11 people were killed, including two children, according to officials at Nasser Hospital, where the casualties were taken.

Video from the scene showed men pulling bloodied wounded people from among tables and chairs set up in the sand in an enclosure made of corrugated metal sheets.

The strike came hours after the Israeli military announced an expansion of the zone, where it has told Palestinians evacuating from other parts of Gaza to take refuge.

Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are sheltering in sprawling tent camps in and around Muwasi, a largely desolate area of dunes and agricultural fields with few facilities or services along the Mediterranean coast of southern Gaza.

A boy reacts next to the bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli strike on a cafe, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip (REUTERS)

Israel faces a deadline this week for the Biden administration's ultimatum for it to allow more aid into Gaza or risk possible restrictions on US military funding.

Israel has announced a series of steps toward improving the situation, including the zone's expansion.

But US officials recently signalled Israel still isn't doing enough, though they have not said if they will take any action against it.

A group of eight international aid agencies said in a report issued on Tuesday that Israel has failed to meet the US demands.

Another strike early on Tuesday hit a house in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing three people including a woman, according to al-Awda Hospital, which received the casualties.

The strike also wounded 11 others, it said.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on either strike.

Israel's 13-month-old campaign in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities who don't distinguish between civilians and militants in their count, but say more than half the dead were women and children.

Israel says it targets Hamas militants and blames the militant group for civilian deaths, saying it operates in residential areas and infrastructure and among displaced people.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted about 250. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, about a third believed to be dead.

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