Israel-Gaza war live: dozens reported killed in Israeli strike on Khan Younis humanitarian zone

7.35am BST

Attaf al-Shaar , who was displaced from the southern city of Rafah, said the deadly Israeli airstrike on Al-Mawasi , happened just after midnight and caused a fire.

“The people were buried in the sand. They were retrieved as body parts,” she told an Associated Press reporter at the scene.

7.23am BST

Three Palestinians were killed on Tuesday in an Israeli bombing of Al-Shawa square east of Gaza City, Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, reported. The bomb targeted civilians at a falafel cart on Al-Hakima street, the outlet reported. These claims have not yet been independently verified.

7.12am BST

Welcome back to our live coverage of Israel’s war in Gaza and the wider Middle East crisis. The main story today is the reports of dozens of people being killed in Al- Mawasi , a supposed humanitarian zone of safety, in Israeli airstrikes.

A Gaza civil defence official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) early this morning that “40 martyrs and 60 injured were recovered and transferred” to nearby hospitals following an attack inside the humanitarian zone in Khan Younis, the Palestinian territory’s main southern city. We will bring you more on this as it comes.

3.08am BST

We’re pausing our blog here. We will return to the live coverage if there are any major updates to bring you.

For now, you can read out full coverage of the search and rescue efforts after the deadly strike on the al-Mawasi humanitarian zone here:

Related: Khan Younis safe zone strike: dozens killed in Israeli attack on Al-Mawasi, Gaza officials say

3.03am BST

Key event

A year ago Al-Mawasi, a strip of mainly coast and dunes, was mostly empty. Aid agencies say it is now home to more than 380,000 people.

Nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been forced from their homes at least once, and some have had to flee as many as 10 times.

The Gaza civil emergency service said at least 20 tents caught on fire in the strike on Tuesday.

2.42am BST

The humanitarian situation in Al-Mawasi

Although Israeli officials have claimed “international humanitarian aid will be provided as needed” for the vast numbers of displaced in Al Mawasi, the reality is very different.

Several hundred thousand people have packed into al-Mawasi since the beginning of the conflict despite minimal provision there of even basic services. Water supply is inadequate, there is almost no sanitation, healthcare is rudimentary and infectious diseases are on the rise.

In May, an aid worker described to the Guardian the “horrific and dehumanising” conditions, with limited food, filthy and scarce water, overwhelmed healthcare facilities and almost no sanitation.

Another said the coast was “totally jam packed, with block after block of tents and only narrow gaps between them”.

“There is no infrastructure inside the camps and very limited new supplies getting in of course,” he said.

The vast majority of Gaza’s population has been displaced, often multiple times, and 86% of the territory has been put under evacuation orders by the Israeli military, according to the UN. Israeli officials say the orders are aimed at reducing civilian casualties and blame Hamas for using people as human shields.

Last month, humanitarian officials confirmed that overcrowding in the humanitarian zone was dissuading those given evacuation orders by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from leaving, despite the dangers of remaining.

“There’s just no space and people know that, so they stay where they are. You can’t get hold of tents, so even if you found somewhere, it would be difficult to get any shelter, and conditions there are terrible,” a UN official based in Gaza told the Guardian.

“Some people refuse to move [to al-Mawasi] because they just don’t want to leave their homes but most because they’ll have nowhere to live if they go there.”

2.21am BST

What is the Al-Mawasi humanitarian zone?

Al-Mawasi is a narrow strip of coastline at the southernmost end of Gaza, close to the city of Khan Younis.

In October, just weeks after the beginning of the war in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) designated al-Mawasi a “humanitarian area” and told residents of Gaza to evacuate there to avoid being caught up in the offensive launched following Hamas’s attacks into southern Israel which killed 1,200, mostly civilians. The IDF promised “international humanitarian aid will be provided as needed” .

On other occasions throughout the conflict, the IDF has told communities in active combat zones to evacuate to Al-Mawasi.

There have however been a number of deadly attacks on the camp.

In January, a suspected Israeli airstrike hit a residential compound in al-Mawasi hosting medical teams and their families from the International Rescue Committee and Medical Aid for Palestinians, two NGOs working in Gaza.

In April, during a military operation, an Israeli tank reportedly fired on a house where staff from Médecins Sans Frontières and their families were sheltering, killing two and injuring six.

In June, the Hamas-run health ministry said 25 people had been killed and 50 injured after Israeli shelling “targeted the tents of the displaced in the al-Mawasi area”.

One airstrike on al-Mawasi in July may have killed Mohammed Deif, the most senior Hamas military commander in Gaza and one of the architects of the attacks into southern Israel that triggered the conflict, but also caused at least 92 deaths and wounded more than 300, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

A number of other attacks have been reported.

2.13am BST

Forty killed in Al-Mawasi strike, says Gaza’s civil defence agency

Gaza’s civil defence agency has said that that the strike on the Al-Mawasi humanitarian zone killed 40 people and wounded 60 others.

Civil defence official Mohammed Al-Mughair told the AFP news agency that “40 martyrs and 60 injured were recovered and transferred” to nearby hospitals after the strike.

“Our crews are still working to recover 15 missing people as a result of targeting the tents of the displaced in Mawasi, Khan Younis,” Mughair added.

Civil defence sources said separately that the strike had left behind large craters.

“Entire families disappeared in the Mawasi Khan Younis massacre, under the sand, in deep holes,” said civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal.

2.04am BST

Hamas denies militants were present at site of attack at Al-Mawasi

Hamas has denied Israeli allegations that gunmen were present at the site targeted by Israeli strikes on Tuesday morning. In a statement, the group also rejected accusations it exploited civilian areas for military purposes.

This is a clear lie that aims to justify these ugly crimes. The resistance has denied several times that any of its members exist within civilian gatherings or using these places for military purposes.”

Earlier the Israeli military said it “struck significant Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command and control centre embedded inside the Humanitarian Area in Khan Younis.”

1.51am BST

Picture from the site of the attack are beginning to come in. They show a huge search and rescue effort taking place in the dark. It is now just before 4am in Gaza.

Search and rescue teams have told local media that they have been struggling to reach victims who might have been buried.

The Reuters news agency has quoted local residents of Al-Mawasi as saying that ambulances were racing back and forth from the area hit in the attack, to a nearby hospital, while Israeli jets could still be heard overhead.

1.44am BST

IDF says steps taken 'to reduce the chance of harming civilians'

In a statement online, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said fighter jets attacked “terrorists of the terrorist organization Hamas who were operating in a command and control complex disguised in the humanitarian area in Khan Younis.”

Before the attack, many steps were taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians, including the use of precision weaponry, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence information.”

1.30am BST

Al-Mawasi humanitarian zone reportedly hit by four missiles

Residents and medics at the tent encampment in the Al-Mawasi area, which is designated as a humanitarian zone, have said it was struck by at least four missiles. The camp is crowded with displaced Palestinians who have fled from elsewhere in the enclave.

The Gaza civil emergency service said at least 20 tents caught on fire, and missiles caused craters as deep as nine meters.

Dozens of Palestinians have reportedly been killed, with many more wounded.

“Our teams are still moving out martyrs and wounded from the targeted area. It looks like a new Israeli massacre,” a Gaza civil emergency official said.

The Israeli military said it “struck significant Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command and control center embedded inside the Humanitarian Area in Khan Younis.”

1.18am BST

Welcome and summary

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the Israel-Gaza war and the wider crisis in the Middle East.

Dozens of Palestinians were reported killed in an Israeli airstrike on a tent encampment in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip early on Tuesday, as the Israeli military said it targeted a Hamas command centre.

Residents and medics said a tent encampment in the Al-Mawasi area, which is designated as a humanitarian zone, was struck by at least four missiles. The camp is crowded with displaced Palestinians who have fled from elsewhere in the enclave.

More on that in a moment, first here’s a summary of the day’s other main events.

• The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, has said that 25 people were killed in an Israeli airstrikes on Syria . Syrian state media had put the death toll at 16 with 40 people injured. Iran described the airstrikes as a “criminal” attack on Syria. The main target appeared to be a military research centre in Masyaf associated with Syria’s chemical and ballistic missiles programme but explosions were also heard in Damascus, Homs and Tartus.

• Benny Gantz, the centre-right National Unity party leader and former defence minister, has reportedly said that Israel should shift its focus toward Hezbollah and the Lebanese border . “The story of Hamas is old news,” Gantz was quoted as saying at a Middle East forum in Washington DC. He said that, instead, “the story of Iran and its proxies all around the area and what they are trying to do is the real issue”.

• The UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, said that ending the war in Gaza is a priority and asked countries to act on what he called Israel’s “blatant disregard” for international law in the occupied Palestinian territories.

• The Palestinian Authority has held a funeral procession for an American-Turkish activist who a witness says was shot and killed by Israeli forces last week during a demonstration against settlements in the occupied West Bank . Dozens of mourners – including several leading officials of the western-backed authority – attended the procession in Nablus for Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old from Seattle who also held Turkish citizenship.

• Australia is coordinating with the UK and other allies to “pressure” Israel to alleviate the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and to stop the erosion of longstanding norms protecting aid workers. The Australian government has also explicitly backed the UK’s decision to curb arms exports to Israel , putting it at odds with the US, which is reported to have privately warned Britain against the move. The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, told Guardian Australia: “Australia is working with partners – including the UK – to put pressure to see a real change in the situation in Gaza.”