Israeli air strike hits UNRWA aid centre near Gaza city

At least five people were killed and seven injured in the attack

The site of an air strike in front of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in near Gaza city on Sunday. AFP

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At least five Palestinians were killed and seven others were injured on Sunday in an Israeli bombing that targeted the main eastern gate of the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) south-west of Gaza city, the Palestinian news agency Wafa said.

The wounded, including children and women, were transferred to Baptist Hospital in the city, it said.

Witness told Reuters the strike hit part of a vocational training being used by UNRWA to distribute aid to displaced families, and said eight people were killed.

“Some people were coming to receive coupons and others had been displaced from their houses and they were sheltering here. Some were filling up water, others were receiving coupons, and suddenly we heard something falling. We ran away, those who were carrying water let it spill,” said Mohammed Tafesh, one of the witnesses.

Israel's strikes and ground offensive in Gaza have killed 37,598 people and injured 86,032 since October 7, according to health authorities. Gaza's Health Ministry said its updated toll on Sunday includes at least 47 deaths over the previous 24 hours.

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas's attack on southern Israel in which about 1,200 people were killed and about 240 taken back to the enclave as hostages.

On Saturday, Palestinian health officials said at least 40 Palestinians had been killed in separate Israeli strikes in some northern Gaza districts, where the Israeli army said it had attacked Hamas's military infrastructure. Hamas said the targets were the civilian population.

The Israeli military has continued bombardment across Gaza while its troops push deeper into the southern city of Rafah amid heavy fighting against Hamas.

Israeli tanks advanced to the edge of a displaced persons' camp in the Mawasi area north-west of Rafah on Sunday, residents told Reuters.

Images of two Israeli tanks stationed on a hilltop overlooking the coastal area went viral on social media.

“The fighting with the resistance has been intense. The occupation forces are overlooking the Mawasi area now, which forced families there to head for Khan Younis,” said one resident, who asked not to be named, on a chat app.

The Israeli military declared Mawasi a safe zone for Rafah residents as it began its offensive in the city in early May, but the area has been struck several times. Shelling on Friday killed at least 22 people near a Red Cross compound.

A senior Red Cross official in Gaza described the horrific scenes after the attack, which the Israeli military said it had no information about.

Three explosions rocked the walls of the compound at around 3.30pm, William Schomburg, the local chief for the ICRC, told reporters in Geneva via video link on Saturday.

Then came the “flood of wounded people” seeking help, he said.

“Around the compound on the street, there were pools of blood, there were bodies strewn across the ground,” he said.

“Frankly, it's like nothing I've ever seen before. The scale of the suffering in such a short period of time was really very shocking for the team.”

The compound where the Red Cross has been operating is located just south of a humanitarian zone identified by the Israeli army.

“All of our buildings are very well known to all parties to the conflict,” Mr Schomburg said.

Refusing to speculate on the source of the shelling, he said: “We're not here to lay blame.”

No Red Cross employees were killed, Mr Schomburg said, but two children of staff members required treatment for injuries sustained in the blasts.

The scale of death and destruction in Gaza has drawn international condemnation and placed pressure on Mr Netanyahu, who insists that that fighting will not stop until Hamas is eliminated and hostages seized by the group are freed.

His stance has placed him under pressure from Israelis who want his government to accept a truce with Hamas to bring home the roughly 100 hostages still in Gaza, many of whom are believed to be dead.

A rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening drew more than 150,000 people, according to the organisation Israel Democracy HQ – Hofshi B'Artzenu, with many demonstrators voicing anger and frustration with Mr Netanyahu and his far-right coalition allies, accusing them of prolonging the war and putting the country's security and hostages at risk.