The Israeli army launched fresh strikes on Gaza on Monday evening, setting ablaze around 200 tents for the displaced in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, and leaving thousands homeless once again.
Residents told The New Arab they were given less than 10 minutes to evacuate, before Israeli warplanes struck nearby farmland, where families had sought refuge after being displaced multiple times during the war.
By the morning, the displacement camp had been reduced to blackened metal frames, charred belongings, and ash, while survivors were left searching for their identification documents, clothing, and household items buried beneath the debris.
Mahmoud Bassal, spokesperson for Gaza's Civil Defence, confirmed in a statement to The New Arab that the Israeli strike destroyed and burned more than 200 tents, which had become home to thousands of displaced Palestinians.
He said the fire spread rapidly because the makeshift shelters were built from fabric, plastic sheets, and other highly flammable materials.
"Civil Defence crews faced enormous difficulties reaching the area and extinguishing the fires because of the continuing attacks and the severe lack of equipment," Bassal said.
He added that hundreds of families had once again been left without shelter amid a shortage of tents and humanitarian supplies across Gaza, due to Israeli restrictions on such items entering the enclave.
"Most of those affected had already been displaced several times since the beginning of the war," he explained. Rebuilding from ashes Early on Tuesday, families returned to the camp hoping to recover anything that could have survived the blaze. Among them was Abu Mohammed al-Aqqad, who had fled from Rafah months earlier, and went back to the camp to gather scorched blankets and torn plastic sheets in the hope of building yet another makeshift shelter.
"We were sitting inside our tents having dinner when the evacuation order arrived," he told The New Arab . "We were shocked because this was farmland where only displaced people were living."
"We ran immediately. After we had moved about 200 metres, the bombing started."
He described near-total destruction across the camp.
"...There wasn't a single shelter left standing. The bathrooms burned. Even the water barrels were destroyed. Everything was reduced to ashes," he added.
Like many families in Al-Mawasi, al-Aqqad has endured repeated displacement since the start of the war on Gaza in October 2023.
"People here came from everywhere, Rafah, Khuza'a, Abasan, eastern Khan Younis and northern Gaza," he said. "Every time we are displaced, we lose the little we managed to rebuild."
"Everyone keeps talking about a ceasefire, but what we see every day is more bombing."
Nearby, Umm Suleiman searched through torn sheets of plastic she hoped to turn into another temporary tent.
Forced from her home in Khan Younis after it became uninhabitable, she said the shelter destroyed in the blaze destroyed everything her family owned.
"We escaped our home because we could no longer live there," she said. "The tent was all we had left. Today it burned too, and now there is nowhere for my children to sleep."
She said her family spent the night in the open after the attack.
"My children keep asking where we will live now, and I have no answer," she said. "We only want a place that can protect us from the heat, the cold, and the bombing." Mother, infant killed In a separate Israeli attack on Khan Younis City, the Israeli army killed a woman and her child.
According to local medical sources, 23-year-old Diana Mohammed Salem Abu Daraz and her one-year-old daughter, Suwar Thaer Abu Daraz, were killed when an Israeli drone struck tents sheltering displaced families in Al-Mawasi. Several other Palestinians were wounded.
The latest attack comes against the backdrop of escalating Israeli attacks across southern Gaza. The Israeli artillery shelled areas northwest of Rafah, while troops opened fire east of Khan Younis and demolished residential buildings northeast of the city, according to local sources. Hamas 'committed' to lasting ceasefire The continued attacks come despite ongoing regional efforts to secure a lasting ceasefire.
On Tuesday, Hamas announced that a delegation led by Zaher Jabarin, the movement's senior official for the occupied West Bank, had arrived in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials and other mediators.
Taher al-Nunu, media adviser to the head of Hamas' political bureau, said the meetings would focus on what he described as "the escalating Israeli violations in the Gaza Strip and the daily killings and assassinations", alongside efforts to ensure the entry of humanitarian aid and reconstruction materials needed for hospitals, bakeries and damaged infrastructure.
He said discussions would also address implementing the agreement's second phase, including a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the start of an administrative committee, and the deployment of international protection mechanisms.
Al-Nunu said Hamas remained committed to reaching an agreement that would end the war and alleviate the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.
However, key provisions of the ceasefire framework remain stalled as Israeli military operations continue across the enclave, deepening the humanitarian crisis and forcing thousands more Palestinians into repeated displacement.
According to Gaza's Ministry of Health, Israel has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians since 7 October 2023.