GAZA CITY, April 17: Gaza's civil defence agency said Thursday that a series of Israeli air strikes killed at least 37 people, most of them in encampments for displaced civilians, as Israel pressed its unrelenting military offensive in the Palestinian territory.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment, but said it was looking into reports of the strikes, which came as Hamas officials said internal deliberations on the latest Israeli truce offer were nearly complete.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said two Israeli missiles hit several tents in the Al-Mawasi area of the southern city of Khan Yunis, resulting in at least 16 deaths, "most of them women and children, and 23 others were wounded".
Survivors described a large explosion at the densely packed encampment that set multiple tents ablaze.
"We were sitting peacefully in the tent, under God's protection, when we suddenly saw something red glowing -- and then the tent exploded, and the surrounding tents caught fire," Israa Abu al-Rus told AFP.
"This is supposed to be a safe area in Al-Mawasi, and the place just exploded. We fled the tent towards the sea and saw the tents burning."
After Israel declared Al-Mawasi a safe zone in December 2023, tens of thousands of Palestinians flocked to its sand dunes along the Mediterranean coast seeking refuge from Israeli bombardment.
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But the area has since been hit by repeated Israeli strikes, which have exacted a heavy civilian death toll.
Bassal said that Israeli strikes on two other encampments of displaced Gazans killed a further nine people -- seven in the northern town of Beit Lahia, and a father and son near Al-Mawasi.
Separately, the civil defence agency reported two more attacks on displaced people in Jabalia -- one that killed at least seven members of the Asaliya family, and another that killed three people at a school being used as a shelter.
The agency also reported two people killed by Israeli shelling in the Shujaiya neighbourhood of Gaza City.
Israel said Wednesday that it had converted 30 percent of Gaza into a buffer zone in the widening offensive it resumed in March, ending a two-month ceasefire.
Defence Minister Israel Katz said this month that the military was leaving Gaza "smaller and more isolated".
The United Nations said half a million Palestinians have been displaced since the offensive resumed, triggering what it has described as the most severe humanitarian crisis since the war began with Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
The Israeli military said its air strikes had hit "approximately 1,200 terror targets" since March 18, and "more than 100 targeted eliminations have been carried out".