4 December 2024 al-Mawasi attack

On 4 December 2024, the Israeli Air Force carried out two sequential strikes on al-Mawasi, an area in the Gaza Strip where large numbers of displaced Palestinians were sheltering, beginning prior to 19:20 Palestine Standard Time. According to a Wikipedia article compiling accounts of attacks on refugee camps and displacement sites during the Gaza war, the strikes ignited numerous makeshift tents housing displaced civilians. Many of those displaced were reportedly still inside their tents when the resulting fires began to spread.

Palestinian Civil Defence crews responded to the scene, attempting to control the fires while simultaneously conducting rescue operations. The reported death toll rose progressively over the course of the afternoon following the attack. Initial reports indicated 20 fatalities, and Civil Defense spokespersons confirmed that children were among those killed. The attacks also caused dozens of injuries.

Medical teams responding to the incident were reported to be overwhelmed, facing limited medical resources and insufficient staff to treat the number of severely wounded survivors. The strikes caused extensive damage to shelters and accommodations used by displaced people in the area, with many structures reported to have been completely destroyed. The al-Mawasi area had, at the time, been designated by Israeli authorities as a location for displaced civilians to relocate to, and had been the site of a number of other reported strikes during the broader Gaza war.