Israel burns Palestinian children to death in attack on so-called ‘safe zone’ in Al-Mawasi

Israel has bombed children and other civilians who were inside tents in Al-Mawasi, Khan Younis. A spokesperson from the civil defence agency, Mahmud Bassal, said:

At least 16 martyrs [were killed], most of them women and children, and 23 others were wounded following a direct strike by two Israeli missiles on several tents housing displaced families in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis.

The area that is bombed is designated a so-called humanitarian or safe zone. However, Israel has repeatedly designated areas as safe zones for people to shelter in, before brutally bombing them.

Israel’s impunity

Shocking footage on social media of the attacks showed people engulfed in flames and crying out for help.  Journalist Motasem Dalloul posted the carnage Israel unleashed:

💥Unbelievable
Tents and bodies of displaced persons are burning after Israeli bombing of Al Mawasi neighbourhood in Khan Younis! pic.twitter.com/Ll6BSZR7Qo

— Motasem A Dalloul (@AbujomaaGaza) April 17, 2025

In the clip, people are running to retrieve survivors from the all-encompassing flames, as sirens sound. Dalloul also shared information on who had been hurt in the attacks:

In the past 4 hours, Israeli occupation forces have KILLED:

• 4 displaced persons in their tents in Al Mawasi
• 15 displaced persons, most of them are CHILDREN, in their tent in Al Astabl street of Khan Younis
• 4 displaced persons in their tent in Beit Lahiya
• 6 displaced persons in their tent in Jabalia
• 7 displaced persons in their tent in Jabalia!

Israeli aggression is still continuous..

Drop Site News shared horrific footage of the charred remains of children Israel burned to death. You can view it here.

A resident of the camp, Yusuf Abu Roos told Middle East Eye:

The corpses were charred… to the point that nothing was left, even the metal in the tents were burnt.

Yusuf said the corpses were:

as if they were skeletons, melted skeletons.

Majedeh Abu Roos, whose daughter and three grandchildren died during the attack, explained that her family were asleep when they were slaughtered:

The [strike] burnt the tent, they were all burnt, they were all charred.

Look at all those who died, they were all just children and women… Have mercy on us, we are exhausted.

She sobbed as she told Middle East Eye:

Every day we await our deaths, every minute and every moment, we are awaiting our end.

Diplomat Mohamed Safa showed a hellish scene:

There is no moral difference between putting people in gas chambers and burning people in safe zones inside tents.

A holocaust is happening right before our eyes and the world is silent. pic.twitter.com/Le5PkuLdRQ

— Mohamad Safa (@mhdksafa) April 16, 2025

Palestinian Muhammad Smiry showed the destruction Israel had caused:

lsrael is burning the displaced families TENTS in Khanyounis, Gaza! pic.twitter.com/9LmyotakiG

— Muhammad Smiry 🇵🇸 (@MuhammadSmiry) April 16, 2025

Silence from mainstream media

Journalist Assal Rad documented how Western media has by and large been ignoring this horrifying attack:

I just saw charred bodies of children burned alive by Israel.

I can’t find any headlines in Western media about it. The reason there is no wall-to-wall coverage for such horror is because the victims are Palestinian and the perpetrator is Israel. That’s how dehumanization works.

— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) April 17, 2025

As usual, Israel’s bombing is being reported by Middle East outlets like Al-Jazeera, Middle East Eye, and the Quds News Network. As ever, Palestinians aren’t considered human enough for mainstream Western media to report on their deaths. Quds News Network (QNN) had the details on an extremely bloody past 24 hours:

The Gaza Strip witnessed a bloody night as Israel perpetrated appalling massacres against displaced civilians in tents across the enclave, wiping out at least three Palestinian families from the civil registry.

The Al-Atal family mourned six members killed in a strike on a tent… pic.twitter.com/i3QvTGIHax

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) April 17, 2025

QNN, as they always do, included details of the specific people who’d been killed:

Palestinian child Ahmed Zuhair Abu Al-Rous, who had special needs, was burned to death in the Israeli bombing of the tents of displaced people in Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, southern Gaza.

At least 16 children fell victim to the appalling strike. pic.twitter.com/aa3lNzYqT0

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) April 17, 2025

It has become commonplace for social media feeds to be the place where we see Palestinians dying, screaming in pain, covered in blood, buried in rubble. Whilst the likes of the BBC are quick to cover the details of Israeli victims, no such humanisation and collective grief is forthcoming for Palestinians.

The least Westerners can do is keep up to date with Israel’s atrocities. That involves breaking news and emerging footage of attacks, but it also involves understanding that the Palestinians massacred are not numbers in statistics, but people. Children like Ahmed Abu Al-Rous have a whole universe inside them, are the whole universe to somebody else.

Mainstream media’s refusal to commemorate Palestinian deaths is a mirror to their refusal to treat Palestinians as people with human rights.

Israel war crimes

Mondoweiss‘ Qassam Muaddi spoke to people in Al-Mawasi who were trying to shelter from bombing. Muaddi reported:

Israel not only resumed airstrikes across the strip at the same rate as the days before the ceasefire entered into force, but has also sealed it off through a complete blockade of humanitarian aid, closing all crossing points into Gaza and provoking the return of famine conditions, a critical shortage of medicine, fuel, and skyrocketing prices.

Israel is committing a genocide. They’re herding Palestinians around the Gaza Strip, bombing safe zones that they themselves designate. Their forces are throttling any entry of aid into the area, so Palestinians starve to death and live in abject misery with little water or electricity. They’re bombing medical facilities so any treatment Palestinians might receive is further scarce. They’re committing war crime after war crime and a silent world is not just watching along, but enabling this genocide with their complicity.

Featured image via screengrab