Al-Mawasi massacre "Gaza government" accuses the occupation of misleading and the toll of aggression is rising

The government media office in Gaza accused Israel of "misleading public opinion and spreading lies about the massacre it committed" on Tuesday against displaced people in the Al-Mawasi area, while the death toll from the ongoing war on the Strip since October 7, 2023, rose to 41,020 martyrs.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said in its statistical report for the 340th day of the war that the death toll from the "Israeli aggression" on the Strip has risen to 41,020 martyrs and 94,925 injuries since October 7.

She stated that the occupation army committed a horrific massacre by bombing tents for displaced people in the Al-Mawasi area in Khan Yunis at dawn today, from which 19 martyrs (whose data is known) arrived at the hospitals, and more than 60 wounded, including serious cases.

She also confirmed that "the Israeli occupation committed 3 massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, 32 martyrs and 100 injuries arrived at hospitals during the past 24 hours." She explained that "a number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them."

Lies and fabricated stories

For its part, the government media office in Gaza accused Israel of seeking to mislead public opinion by promoting lies and fabricated stories about the massacre it committed on Tuesday against displaced people in the Al-Mawasi area, classified as "safe" in the Khan Yunis Governorate in the southern Gaza Strip.

This came in a statement by the office, in which it urged various media outlets not to be led astray by the "lies" that Israel is spreading to "cover up its brutal crimes against civilians and displaced persons" in Gaza.

An Israeli airstrike on Tuesday morning on tents of displaced people in the Al-Mawasi area in Khan Yunis resulted in the deaths of 40 Palestinians and the injury of 60 others, in addition to dozens of missing persons, according to a preliminary toll reported by the Director General of the Government Media Office, Ismail Al-Thawabtah.

Regarding this massacre, the office said in its statement, "Government and relief crews are still retrieving dozens of martyrs and wounded until this moment from the site of the bombing and targeting, as this horrific massacre comes in conjunction with the occupation's collapse of the health system and the destruction of hospitals and their removal from service."

The office warned that the occupation army "is trying in vain to mislead public opinion by spreading lies, false statements and fabricated stories that it promotes, which is a failed attempt to justify the horrific massacre in which it targeted the tents of the displaced."

He accused Israel of practicing "a policy of repeated deception since the beginning of the genocidal war (Gaza), in an attempt to cover up its failure and the crimes it is committing against civilians and displaced persons, especially among children and women."

The office called on the various media outlets to "take the utmost caution" and "not be drawn in by the occupation's lies", which seek to "use the media to cover up its brutal crimes against civilians and displaced persons."

He also condemned "the occupation's use of media deception methods and the dissemination of fake news, rumours and lies in an attempt to divert attention from its ongoing crimes against our Palestinian people."

The office held Israel and the US administration "fully responsible for the continuation of these horrific massacres against civilians, children and women in Gaza, and against the tents of the displaced in particular."

The Israeli occupation army's bombing of Al-Mawasi is not the first of its kind, as it has previously launched attacks on this area, which extends for 12 km along the Mediterranean coast between the cities of Deir al-Balah in the north and Rafah in the south, causing horrific massacres in which hundreds were killed, including martyrs and wounded children and women, despite its classification of it as a "safe area" and its forced migration of Gaza residents to it.

An airstrike targeting tents of displaced people in Mawasi, Khan Yunis, on July 13, led to the martyrdom of 90 Palestinians and the injury of 300 others, including dozens of children and women, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.