AN Israeli attack on a tent in southern Gaza has killed at least three Palestinians and wounded three others, local rescuers say, as Israel continues to bomb the coastal enclave despite an October ceasefire.
The Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza said on Thursday that its teams recovered the bodies of three slain residents after the Israeli military bombed a family’s tent in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis.
Three others were wounded, including one person who suffered critical injuries, the agency said in a post on Telegram.
Separately, Israeli fire killed an 11-year-old Palestinian girl named Hamsa Housou in northern Gaza’s Jabalia area.
Her uncle, Khamis Housou, said he woke up to screaming in the family’s building. “I saw Hamsa lying on the floor and blood coming out of her nose and mouth,” he said.
The attacks come as Israel has continued its military assault on Gaza despite a United States-brokered ceasefire agreement that came into effect on October 10.
At least 425 Palestinians have been killed and 1,206 others wounded in Israeli attacks since October 11, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza.
At the same time, hundreds of thousands of displaced families have been sheltering in makeshift tent camps across Gaza after their homes were destroyed in Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in the territory.
Israel has refused to allow a free flow of shelter supplies into the Gaza Strip, despite warnings from the United Nations and humanitarian groups that Palestinians are suffering amid a series of deadly winter storms.
Encampments have been flooded due to heavy rainfall in recent weeks, prompting calls from Palestinians for better tents, blankets and warm clothes.
Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, said this week that Palestinians in Gaza were suffering from “respiratory infections, wound complications [and] skin diseases” as a result of harsh living conditions.
Babies are also “suffering from severe cold”, the group said, “all the while Israel continues to block or delay the entry of vital supplies like tents, tarpaulins, and temporary housing”.
Meanwhile, Israel has moved to block international aid groups, including MSF and the Norwegian Refugee Council, from operating in the Strip.
Israel has revoked the operating licences of 37 aid organisations for failing to comply with new regulations that require them to provide detailed information on staff members, funding and operations.
Experts say those requirements contravene humanitarian principles and follow a longstanding Israeli government campaign to vilify and ultimately impede the work of aid groups providing assistance to Palestinians.
On Thursday, the Reuters news agency reported that MSF, Medecins du Monde Suisse and the Danish Refugee Council said the Israeli authorities refused to allow their international staff to enter Gaza this week.
The targeted groups have said they will be forced to stop providing key services, including healthcare, in Gaza as a result of Israel’s ban, putting Palestinian lives at risk.