Waves of Israeli airstrikes kill civilians in Gaza's Nuseirat camp

At least 17 people were killed by Israeli attacks on residential areas across Gaza on Tuesday, as Palestinians face continued displacement while fears of famine grows.

Footage shared by local journalists showed emergency services carrying bodies in a blanket and locals searching for survivors among the rubble of a destroyed building after an Israeli attack in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza overnight on Monday.

Locals said that Israeli jets struck family homes in the area which killed seven people and wounded others.

Emergency services said they recovered five bodies after an airstrike hit a building belonging to al-Madhoun family in Nuseirat, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

The central Gaza camp, which houses the descendants of Palestinians displaced in the 1948 Nakba, was recently the epicentre of a major Israeli military operation which killed 274 Palestinians and injured hundreds more in hours of attacks and saw four captives rescued.

Air attacks also killed members of the al-Harb family in Bureij refugee camp and Deir Al-Balah WAFA said, as new footage emerged showing heavy destruction to Bureij's buildings.

Images and videos shared online showed apartment blocks hollowed out with the ground covered in bricks and grey debris. A few people could be seen surveying the wreckage. The New Arab was not able to independently verify the footage.

تغطية صحفية| أثار الدمار الكبير بعد الاستهدافات الاخيرة على مخيم البريج وسط قطاع غزة pic.twitter.com/DKm8WqcFFI

— Asem Ahmad (@AsemAhmad18) June 18, 2024

Elsewhere in the Gaza strip, areas south of Rafah was also subject to strikes with Israeli tanks, which sighted in the western neighbourhoods of Tel Al-Sultan, Al-Izba, and Zurub, Reuters reported.

Israeli forces continue to occupy the border with Egypt and have blocked off the Rafah crossing, a vital entry and exit point for civilians and humanitarian supplies.

One Rafah resident, quoted by Reuters, said that Israeli forces had infiltrated "most areas".

"There is heavy resistance too and they are making them pay dearly but the occupation is not ethical and they are destroying the city and the refugee camp," the resident told the agency.

The military announced two weeks ago it was preparing to invade central Gaza, including Deir al-Balah and Bureij refugee camp where thousands of civilians fled after Israel pushed into central Rafah at the start of May.

The majority of the densely populated enclave has been subjected to ground incursions by Israel, which has devastated swathes of the territory and displaced the majority of its 2.3 million inhabitants. The UN estimates that over 60 percent of Gaza's homes have been destroyed.

Hundreds of thousands of families are living in displacement camps established along the al-Mawasi beach area which aid agencies have warned is unsuitable for habitation and lacks basic sanitation.

The area was hit by a massive air strike on 27 May which killed some 45 civilians after bombing sparked a major fire in displaced people's tents. The incident prompted global outrage and an apology from Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but did not see Israel take any steps to lessen its attacks.

The Gaza health ministry said on Tuesday that 25 people had been killed in "the  massacres against families in the Gaza Strip" and  80 wounded were hospitalised in the past day.

Since October, 37,372 have been killed by Israel and more than 85,000 wounded, most of them women and children. Health officials fear the death toll is likely to be greater considering the numbers of people trapped under rubble.