The Israeli military said today it had struck senior Hamas commanders operating in a headquarters they had set up in a designated humanitarian area in the southern city Han Yunis at Gaza Strip.

“These terrorists were directly involved in the October 7 massacre and have recently been active in carrying out terrorist activities,” the Israeli military said in a statement.

It adds that the number of casualties announced by Hamas in Gaza Strip “does not agree with the information they have IDF (Israel Defense Forces), the precision munitions used and the accuracy of the strike.”

Those targeted in the strike included the heads of Hamas’ air unit and the Palestinian Islamist movement’s observation and targeting department, according to the Israeli military.

Tuesday mornings Hamas announced that at least 40 people had died in Israeli bombing in the declared Al Mawasi humanitarian zone, in Khan Younis.

“40 witnesses and 60 wounded were pulled out and treated” in nearby hospitals after the shelling, Mohammed al-Mughair, a civil protection official in the Palestinian enclave, summarized speaking to AFP.

“Our teams are continuing efforts to locate 15 people who are missing,” he added.

Sources close to civil protection in the Gaza Strip announced earlier that at least 20 tents caught fire, while Israeli rockets caused craters up to nine meters deep.

“Entire families were wiped out in the massacre in al-Mawashi,” said another civil protection official, Mahmoud Basal.