An airstrike on a convoy fleeing northern Gaza killed at least 70 people, including children as young as two, according to reports.
An additional 200 people were hurt in the incident, which happened on a safe route along the Salah al-Din Road in Gaza City Friday afternoon.
The road was filled with vehicles as Palestinians tried to flee the enclave before the end of an Israeli deadline to vacate Gaza, according to a report.
The Israeli Defense Forces denied responsibility for the deadly blast, saying there was no indication they were behind it.
The IDF had given more than one million civilians 24 hours to flee to the south of Gaza via two main roads between 10 am and 4 pm Saturday, local time.
Palestinians flee to the south of Gaza ahead of an Israeli-mandated deadline to clear more than 1.1 million civilians before the continuation of airstrikes against the Hamas-controlled enclave. REUTERS
Palestinians flee Gaza ahead of an Israeli deadline to evacuate the Hamas-controlled enclave. REUTERSVideo released by the Palestinian health ministry shows ambulance crews arriving at the scene of the airstrike.
One ambulance crew came under fire as they were tending to a young girl and a woman inside the ambulance.
Israel-Hamas war: How we got here
2005: Israel unilaterally withdraws from the Gaza Strip more than three decades after winning the territory from Egypt in the Six-Day War.
2006: Terrorist group Hamas wins a Palestinian legislative election.
2007: Hamas seizes control of Gaza in a civil war.
2008: Israel launches military offensive against Gaza after Palestinian terrorists fired rockets into the town of Sderot.
2023: Hamas launches the biggest attack on Israel in 50 years, in an early-morning ambush Oct. 7, firing thousands of rockets and sending dozens of militants into Israeli towns.
Terrorists killed more than 1,200 Israelis, wounded more than 4,200, and took at least 200 hostage.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to announce, “We are at war,” and vowed Hamas would pay “a price it has never known.”
The Gaza Health Ministry — which is controlled by Hamas — reported at least 3,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 12,500 injured since the war began.
More than 1,300 Israelis were killed when Hamas terrorists launched a surprise Oct. 7 assault, slaughtering families, shooting 260 attendees of a music festival and murdering 40 babies and children.
So far, more than 2,200 Palestinians have been killed, including 724 children.
