Israeli attack on Nuseirat refugee camp ‘savage escalation of genocide’ against Gazans: Hamas

By Rania Abu Shamala

ISTANBUL (AA) - Palestinian resistance movement Hamas on Saturday condemned Israel’s attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, which left 210 people dead and more than 400 injured.

“The Israeli massacre in the Nuseirat refugee camp is a horrendous crime and a savage escalation of the genocide against our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip,” Hamas said in a statement.

“What American and Israeli media outlets have revealed about Washington's participation in the criminal operation in Nuseirat confirms its complicit role in the war crimes being committed in Gaza,” it added.

“What the Israeli occupation army announced regarding the release of some of its prisoners in Gaza will not change its strategic failure in the Gaza Strip,” the Palestinian resistance movement said.

According to eyewitnesses, Israeli military vehicles unexpectedly advanced into areas east and northwest of the Nuseirat camp, coinciding with heavy artillery bombardment targeting large areas of the camp.

Some 210 Palestinians were killed and more than 400 injured on Saturday 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 a Hamas attack last 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.