Improper munition said cause of high death toll in strike on Gaza’s Maghazi
Military official says ‘extensive collateral damage’ could have been avoided; Hamas claims 68 killed in strike; IDF says it targeted Hamas operatives, regrets harm to noncombatants
An Israel Defense Forces strike that killed dozens of people in the Maghazi camp in the center of the Gaza Strip earlier this week was carried out using improper ordnance, a military official told the Kan public broadcaster on Thursday.
“The type of munition did not match the nature of the attack, causing extensive collateral damage that could have been avoided,” the official said.
The army said later Thursday that it “regretted the harm” to noncombatants in the incident, saying the strike had targeted Hamas operatives but caused unexpected harm to Gazans who were not involved.
According to Hamas-run health authorities in Gaza, 68 people were killed in the strike in the Maghazi camp, east of Deir al-Balah, in the center of the Strip, late Sunday. The toll cannot be verified and could include Hamas fighters. Associated Press journalists at a nearby hospital said they watched frantic Palestinians carry the dead, including a baby, and the wounded following the strike.
In response to the Kan report on Thursday, an IDF spokesperson said the air force attacked “several Hamas operatives” at two adjacent locations. It said “steps were taken” ahead of the attack to minimize the harm to noncombatants.” Its initial investigation showed that “additional buildings were struck… in a way that apparently led to the unexpected harming of noncombatants.” The IDF said the incident was being investigated further.
“The IDF regrets the harm to those who were uninvolved and is working to learn lessons from the incident,” it added.
Israel has repeatedly said it is investing extensive efforts in minimizing harm to noncombatants, noting that this is complicated by the terror group having deeply embedded its military infrastructure amid civilian areas.
The strike came amid ongoing fighting in Gaza sparked by Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, in which some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing over 240 hostages of all ages — mostly civilians — under the cover of a deluge of thousands of rockets fired at Israeli towns and cities.
In response, Israel vowed to destroy the terror group and release the hostages, and launched a wide-scale military campaign in Strip. Hamas health authorities say some 21,000 people have been killed in the war, now in its third month, though those figures cannot be confirmed and Hamas includes fighters in its toll. The IDF says it has killed over 8,000 Hamas and other terror group operatives in Gaza.
