Khan Younis, July 14 (RHC)-- More than 70 people have been killed and over 300 others wounded by Israeli air strikes on the al-Mawasi refugee camp near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

The area where the strike took place had been designated by the Israeli regime as a so-called “safe” zone.

According to witnesses, a series of airstrikes were conducted by Israel’s F16 war planes that targeted a camp for displaced Palestinians west of the city with more than nine consecutive missiles.

“This was followed by quadcopter drones opening fire on ambulances and civil defense teams as soon as they arrived,” they said.   The attacks, which took place around 10:30 a.m. in the morning, initially resulted in the killing of dozens of civilians who were subsequently transported to the Nasser Medical Complex, with over 100 others injured, some critically.

Rescue teams continue to retrieve dozens of casualties from the sites of the bombings.   Local health authorities warned that the region's hospitals are incapable of accommodating a large number of casualties as Gaza's healthcare infrastructure has been decimated by Israeli occupation forces.

Suhaib Al-Hams, head of the Kuwait field hospital, called the Mawasi attack "a real massacre."  He said there were many "severe injuries including amputations and lacerations of internal organs."  "A real disaster is happening now amid the collapse of the healthcare system," he added.

The massacre came on the 281st day of the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza.

Israel's strikes have killed at least 38,345 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to data from Gaza's health ministry.

The Gaza government media office said in a statement that Israel "spreads false news, lies, and rumors to divert attention from the horrific crime in Khan Younis and a failed attempt to justify the terrible massacre."

Israel has claimed that this attack targeted Mohammed Deif, a senior Hamas military official.  In the statement, the Gaza government media office called it a “failed attempt to justify the horrific massacre”.

“The Israeli occupation has been practicing a policy of deception repeatedly since the beginning of the war of genocide, in an attempt to cover up its failure and the crimes it commits against civilians and displaced persons, especially children and women,” the office said.

"We call on various media outlets and our media colleagues to exercise the utmost caution and vigilance, and to be very careful when preparing and processing news and media reports about such massacres, and not to be dragged into or circulate the false narrative of the occupation, which aims to use the media to cover up its brutal crimes against civilians and the displaced," the statement said.

The Gaza government media office condemned Israel's use of "media deception tactics and the spreading of false news, rumors, and lies in an attempt to divert attention from its ongoing crimes against the Palestinian people."

"We hold the 'Israeli' occupation and the U.S. administration fully responsible for the continuation of these horrific massacres against civilians and hold them responsible for using media deception to divert public attention from the truth and fabricate false and untrue narratives," it noted.

The Gaza media office called on the international community, the United Nations, various international organizations, and all free countries of the world to pressure the Israeli regime and the US administration to stop the genocide and the bloodshed in Gaza.