Tank shells hit a U.N. training center sheltering tens of thousands of displaced people in Khan Younis on Wednesday, killing at least nine people and wounding 75, a senior U.N. relief official said.
Footage circulating among Palestinians showed black smoke pouring into the sky above the training center, run by UNRWA, the U.N. relief organization for the Palestinians. An UNRWA team trying to reach the center was blocked, the organization's director of Gaza affairs, Thomas White, said.
In response to questions about the shelling, the IDF said the wider area was a significant base of Hamas militants. "Dismantling Hamas' military framework in western Khan Younis is the heart of the logic behind the operation," it said.
Smoke rises from UNRWA training center in Khan Younis
In their biggest operation in a month, Israeli tanks have pushed through Khan Younis, where many Palestinians are sheltering after leaving the north - the early focus of the war.
Their main target appears to be the area around Khan Younis' long-standing refugee camp, which includes the Nasser and Al-Amal hospitals and also the training center run by UNRWA.
"Attack on Khan Younis Training Centre this afternoon - two tank rounds hit building that shelters 800 people - reports now 9 dead and 75 injured" UNRWA's White said on X.
The Palestinian Red Cross Society, which runs the Al-Amal hospital, said troops had blockaded its staff inside and imposed a curfew in the area, including its local headquarters, where three displaced individuals had been killed. Israel says Hamas fighters operate in and around hospitals, which hospital staff and Hamas deny.