Israel-Gaza war live: Israeli military claims Turkish-American activist killed in West Bank was likely unintentionally shot

What is al-Mawasi and why did Israel attack a ‘safe zone’?

Palestinian officials say an Israeli strike on al-Mawasi, a crowded tent camp designated as a “humanitarian zone” housing people displaced by the war in Gaza, has killed at least 19 people and wounded 60. But what is al-Mawasi and what happened?

What is al-Mawasi evacuation zone?

Situated to the west of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, al-Mawasi is a 10-mile (16km) strip of sandy farmland that stretches along the Mediterranean coast, with dunes and a beach close to the sea, and a scrubby plain further inland. It was first designated in early December last year as a “humanitarian zone” by the Israel Defense Forces, where it was suggested Palestinians could find safety and the provision of international aid in the midst of Israeli military assaults on Gaza’s main urban areas.

Amid evacuation orders for other areas, Palestinians have been told to relocate to al-Mawasi on multiple occasions, leading to the emergence of a substantial camp of temporary shelters.

Is al-Mawasi a safe zone?

Far from it. Despite its designation, al-Mawasi has been attacked by Israeli forces on multiple occasions. In the most deadly attack, on 13 July, Israeli jets bombed al-Mawasi, killing 90 people and injuring 300 displaced Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

The Israeli military has said an American activist killed in the West Bank was likely unintentionally shot by Israeli forces, it said on Tuesday following an inquiry into the incident.

American-Turkish dual national, Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, was shot dead – reportedly by Israeli troops – while participating in a protest against settler expansion in the occupied West Bank on Friday. The 26-year-old was a volunteer peace activist with the anti-occupation International Solidarity Movement (ISM).

The Israeli military previously admitted to firing at the demonstrators and said it was looking into reports that a foreign national was killed. However, the ISM, which organises foreign volunteers in the Palestinian territories, said Israeli forces “intentionally shot and killed” an international human rights activist during the weekly protest on Friday morning.

Witnesses also told the Observer Eygi was killed by Israeli forces on Friday.

One of the bullets hit something along the way and a fragment hit a protester in the stomach, wounding him slightly, the witnesses said. The other bullet hit Eygi in the head, passing through her skull. Neighbours pointed out both the spot where Eygi was shot and where the bullet came from: a house on a ridge.

The White House has said it was “deeply disturbed” by the news and also called for Israel to investigate her killing, which has caused strong reactions across the international community.

Eygi’s family have also called for an independent investigation into her killing.

At least 41,020 Palestinian people have been killed and 94,925 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

The toll includes 32 deaths and 100 injuries in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry.

The health ministry has said thousands of other dead people are most likely lost in the rubble of the enclave.

Turkey’s foreign ministry has denounced the deadly overnight Israeli airstrikes in the designated al-Mawasi humanitarian zone in southern Gaza, describing it as a “war crime”. Health authorities in Gaza said the Israeli strikes on a tent camp for displaced Palestinians killed at least 40 people and injured 60 others.

“We condemn Israel’s massacre of dozens of Palestinians in an attack on the tents of civilians in the so-called ‘humanitarian zone’ in Khan Younis,” the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement, saying Israel had “added a new crime to its list of war crimes”.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been a vocal opponent of Israel’s war in Gaza. He has accused Israel of genocide, called for it to be punished in international courts and criticised western nations for backing the country’s military assault.

Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said said Hamas’s military capabilities had been severely damaged after more than 11 months of war, claiming the Palestinian militant group no longer existed as a military formation in Gaza.

“Hamas as a military formation no longer exists. Hamas is engaged in guerrilla warfare and we are still fighting Hamas terrorists and pursuing Hamas leadership,” he told foreign journalists.

The Israeli military said in July it had killed over half of the leadership of Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam brigades, and that it had killed or apprehended over 14,000 Hamas fighters out of the estimated 30,000 to 40,000 fighters that the group had at the start of the war last year. These figures have been disputed by Hamas.

In the briefing with journalists, Gallant also offered his support for a hostage release agreement in the first phase of a Gaza truce deal, saying it would give Israel a “strategic opportunity” to address other security challenges. Bringing the hostages home is “the right thing to do,” he said.

Gallant has clashed repeatedly with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and hardline religious nationalist ministers over the need to reach a deal to halt the war and bring the remaining hostages back in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Netanyahu is under huge pressure to agree a hostage-for-peace deal with Hamas that has been under negotiation for several months. A major impasse in the negotiations has been the Philadelphi corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt and the Netzarim east-west corridor across the territory. Netanyahu has insisted that Israel retain control of the corridors to prevent smuggling and catch militant fighters. Hamas is demanding the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

About 250 hostages were taken by the Hamas-led 7 October attacks on southern Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed. 97 hostages abducted during the attack remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 33 confirmed dead by the Israel Defense Forces, according to the Times of Israel.