Israeli artillery shelling targets school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza

​​​​​​​By Anadolu staff

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - Several Palestinians were killed and injured following the Israeli artillery's targeting of a school in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, the civil defense in Gaza said Friday.

The Civil Defense General Directorate said teams in the central governorate received “dozens of distress calls after the Israeli artillery targeted Nuseirat New Camp Elementary School.”

It said there are Palestinians who were killed and injured in the school, which shelters a large number of displaced residents, mostly children and women.

The group explained that teams were unable to enter the school and evacuate victims due to the danger of the location.

The civil defense appealed to the UN and the Red Cross “to fulfill their responsibilities, assist and coordinate in the immediate evacuation of the martyrs and the wounded.”

The Nuseirat refugee camp has been subjected to an “unexpected” Israeli military operation since Wednesday, resulting in deaths and injuries.

Earlier Friday, Hamas condemned the military operation and described it as “a new chapter in the Zionist genocide war” against the Palestinian people.

The Palestinian group said the camp “has been under a brutal attack for two days, targeting civilian facilities and homes, resulting in dozens of martyrs and wounded.”

Israel has waged a military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas which killed less than 1,200 people.

More than 33,600 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began.

Tel Aviv has also imposed a crippling blockade on the seaside enclave, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while much of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which has urged it to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala