The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that the Israeli military dropped 8 tons of bombs on displacement camps in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip last Saturday, resulting in heavy civilian casualties.
The newspaper explained that, according to sources familiar with the operation, the Israeli military had passed the plans up the chain of command to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with F-35 aircraft loaded with large bombs.
The military heavily bombed the area with eight 2,000-pound bombs, turning the target into a blazing crater due to the precise impact of the explosives. Consequently, the Palestinian authorities announced that dozens of Palestinians in the surrounding area of the complex, which included a market, a water source, and a kitchen serving displaced civilians, were killed and hundreds were injured.
The Wall Street Journal quoted an eyewitness named Mahmoud Abu Amer, who described the scene as “like a belt of fire,” with others reporting a rain of shrapnel.
Bahaa Abu Rukba, a medic living near the complex, reported an unusually loud whistling noise—believed to be a missile passing nearby—adding that he began filming with his phone as the ammunition flew, followed by a series of explosions.
He noted that shrapnel fell on the area and smoke filled the air as he and a friend rushed to the strike zone to provide first aid and check on families. Gaza’s health authorities reported that more than 90 people were killed and 300 others injured, many of them women and children.
The Israeli military stated that it attacked a fenced complex used by Hamas and guarded by activists, taking precautions to minimize civilian casualties. It acknowledged that the area was surrounded by civilians but said that the responsibility for civilian casualties rests with “Hamas” for trying to hide among them.
Despite the escalation, the report noted that this spring, President Joe Biden suspended a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel on the grounds that they were inappropriate for use in civilian areas.
The article also mentioned a visit by Scott Anderson, director of the UN Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, to the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, where he saw patients lying on the ground due to lack of space, injured children, including amputees, and a lack of equipment.
In a message from the hospital, he said, “I have seen some of the most horrific scenes I’ve seen in the nine months I’ve spent in Gaza.”
The newspaper highlighted that Israel bombed the area despite having designated it a humanitarian zone and instructed civilians to go there in previous evacuation orders. Wes Bryant, a retired senior expert from the U.S. Air Force, mentioned that videos from the scene indicate the use of several 2,000-pound bombs.
He stated that the Israeli Air Force likely aimed to strike several locations in the complex to ensure the entire area was destroyed and that the targets would be killed wherever found, noting that such violent explosions make it difficult to identify bodies, requiring investigators to search for DNA or personal belongings like mobile phones.
