Palestinians condemn Israel’s strike in Nuseirat that killed dozens | Gaza news

Palestinian authorities said at least 33 people were killed in an Israeli strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, as Israel continued its deadly offensive across the region.

The Government Press Office in Gaza called Thursday’s attack a “heinous and terrible massacre”, noting that most of those killed were from the al-Sheikh Ali family.

“I [Israeli] the soldiers know that this area is a residential area with many buildings where many people, children, women and homeless people live,” said the office.

Doctors told Reuters news agency that Israeli fire had hit the post office in Nuseirat where displaced Palestinian families have taken shelter, as well as nearby houses.

Photos from the scene show small children covered in dust and blood in the rubble of the collapsed building. Reuters reported that an estimated 50 people were injured in the deadly strike, in addition to 30 or more dead.

In Gaza, it is not uncommon for airstrikes to kill dozens of members of a single family, as Israel’s war continues into its second year.

Since October 2024, which is one year of the war, Israeli strikes have completely destroyed at least 902 families in the Strip, according to the Government Media Office in Gaza.

Throughout the war, centers and buildings sheltering displaced families have been attacked by Israeli forces, who often claim, with little evidence, that they are being used as operational centers for the Palestinian group Hamas. Israeli authorities have not commented on Thursday’s strike in Nuseirat.

Health facilities, journalists and social workers have reported that they have been targeted by Israeli forces since the war began in October 2023, when Hamas launched a deadly offensive in southern Israel that killed around 1,100 people, most of them civilians.

Since then, Israeli attacks have killed more than 44,800 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of them women and children.

On Thursday, the watchdog Airwars, which monitors civilian casualties from airstrikes, released a report saying Israel’s operation in Gaza is “the most intense, destructive and deadly war on record.”

The report found that, in the first month of the war, the number of people killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza was almost four times higher than the number of casualties of “any war recorded by Airwars since its inception in 2014”, more than comparable. the time.

Experts and rights groups also say the death toll in Gaza is likely to be much lower, with thousands more buried under mountains of rubble and front-line health services struggling to function.

Thursday’s Nuseirat attack hit a residential area in one of Gaza’s eight refugee camps, which were established in 1948 after the forced expulsion of Palestinians from neighboring areas, often referred to as the Nakba or “catastrophe”.

It was one of many strikes in Gaza throughout the day. In another refugee camp, Jabalia, Israeli soldiers shot Saeed Jouda, a senior doctor who worked at Kamal Adwan Hospital, as he went to treat patients. He died because of it.

An estimated 1,057 health workers have been killed since the war began. The Government Media Office in Gaza also highlighted the difficulties in the enclave’s medical system in a statement on Thursday.

“This latest crime is in line with Israel’s plan to overthrow the health system in the Gaza Strip, and to put great pressure on the medical teams,” the press office said.

“It goes hand in hand with the continued attacks on hospitals and health centers, making them lose their jobs. In addition, this work prohibits the entry of medicines and medical supplies and equipment, as part of the crime of genocide.”