The three bombs dropped by Israeli aircraft on the tents of displaced people in southern Gaza left three huge craters and a myriad of questions about the use of such large munitions in such a densely populated area.
In the early hours of Tuesday, the Israeli shelling of al-Mawasi killed at least 19 people and injured many others.
At least 22 people are missing, probably vaporized by the intensity of the explosion.
Israel said the strikes targeted Hamas militants, while Palestinians and aid groups condemned the attack as a war crime.
What happened?
Initial accounts of the Israeli strike were confusing, but it quickly became clear that Israel had hit the camp with three large projectiles.
Tala Herzallah, 22, told Tel Aviv Tribune how she and her family were sleeping about 200 metres away and: “Suddenly everything changed.
“The enormous damage caused by the bombs made us realize that they were intended for the largest buildings and not for tents made of the most fragile materials in the world.”
Abu Muhammad al-Bayouk, a displaced person living near the camp, told Tel Aviv Tribune: “We heard the explosions. It was… more than a missile. We found many wounded and martyrs and body parts scattered everywhere, including women and children.”
What did Israel use against al-Mawasi’s tents?
Tel Aviv Tribune’s fact-checking agency Sanad has concluded that US-made MK-84 bombs may have been used by Israel against a camp for displaced families.
This hypothesis was based on analysis of the size of the craters and on images of bomb fragments from the camp.
The MK-84 is a 2,000-pound cannon, and one of the heaviest pieces supplied to Israel by the United States.
The United States briefly suspended deliveries of MK-84 missiles in May, fearing they could be used to attack Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Israel then invaded Rafah in May.
Armies tend to use the MK-84 sparingly, but Israel is believed to have used it extensively in Gaza.
The MK-84 causes a pressure wave so intense that in addition to destroying buildings, it exterminates all life within a 365 meter (400 yard) radius.
According to the UN, the blast can rupture lungs, tear limbs and burst sinuses up to hundreds of metres from the blast site.
The craters left by the MK-84s are approximately 15.5 meters wide and 11 meters deep (50 feet wide and 36 feet deep), consistent with those discovered at al-Mawasi.
How many people were at the place Israel struck?
There is no precise count of the number of people in the displaced tents, but Tel Aviv Tribune’s Sanad estimates there were around 60 tents in the area struck by Israel.
Previous accounts describe massive overcrowding, with 20 or more people crammed into a single tent in an attempt to shelter from Israel’s ongoing war against the besieged enclave.
According to this count, it is estimated that at least 120 people were sleeping where the three large bombs landed.
Why were there so many people in al-Mawasi?
Al-Mawasi was designated a humanitarian “safe zone” by Israel in October last year.
Since then, thousands of displaced people have fled or been ordered to do so by the Israeli army.
There, despite what many describe as appalling conditions, many hoped to find a chance of safety for their families, something not possible anywhere else in Gaza.
For many, the Israeli military’s assurances, the lack of nearby skyscrapers and the fine sand below making the chances of Israeli airstrikes on suspected tunnels unlikely, raised hopes that the camp could at least be secured.
Those hopes were quickly dashed. Before Tuesday’s attack, al-Mawasi had been hit four times, but residents remained there because they had nowhere else to go.
The most significant attack took place on July 13, when 90 people were killed and at least 300 injured.
At the time, Israel said the attack targeted two senior Hamas commanders, a claim Hamas denied.
