Egypt, Jordan condemn Israeli attack on Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp

By Rania Abu Shamala

ISTANBUL (AA) - Egypt and Jordan condemned Saturday the Israeli attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, which left 210 people dead and more than 400 injured.

“Egypt condemns in the strongest terms the Israeli attacks on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, which have resulted in the death of over 150 Palestinian civilians and the injury of hundreds more,” an Egyptian Foreign Ministry statement said.

The ministry termed the attack “a blatant violation of all provisions of international law, international humanitarian law, and all human values and human rights.”

“Egypt holds Israel legally and ethically responsible for this blatant aggression and demands compliance as an occupying power to cease the indiscriminate targeting of Palestinian civilians, including those in displacement areas, and the devastating destruction of all infrastructure services in the Gaza Strip,” it said.

The ministry further called on “influential international parties and the Security Council to urgently intervene to halt the Israeli war against the Gaza Strip and to take responsible action to end this humanitarian crisis, which has claimed the lives of over 36,000 martyrs.”

It affirmed “the necessity of reaching a cease-fire throughout the entire Gaza Strip and ensuring the full and unimpeded entry of humanitarian and relief aid through all land crossings into the strip.”

Meanwhile, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry considered the Israeli attack on the Nuseirat camp as “a practice that reflects the systematic targeting of Palestinian civilians, Israel's persistent violation of international law and international humanitarian law, and the continuation of committing war crimes.”

In a statement, the ministry affirmed “the Kingdom's condemnation and absolute denunciation of Israel's continued commission of genocide in the Gaza Strip, which is suffering an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe due to the Israeli aggression since Oct. 7.”

Jordan further stressed that the attack constitutes “a blatant violation of international law and international legitimacy resolutions, and the international will calling for an end to the war that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of innocent civilians.”

It called on "the entire international community, especially the UN Security Council, to urgently and immediately take action to stop the war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza, and to oblige it, as the occupying power, to comply with the rules of international law and international humanitarian law and to stop its senseless war on the Gaza Strip," according to the statement.

Earlier, the Hamas-run Government Media Office said that at least 210 Palestinians were killed and more than 400 injured in severe Israeli airstrikes targeting Nuseirat refugee camp, areas east of Deir al-Balah, and al-Bureij and al-Maghazi camps in central Gaza, coinciding with a sudden incursion of vehicles east and northwest of Nuseirat.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7 despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 36,800 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 83,500 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.