Israeli warplanes hit Maghazi refugee camp in Gaza leaving at least 33 dead

Israeli warplanes attacked the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza in the early hours of Sunday, leaving at least 33 dead and 42 injured, health officials said.

A spokesman for the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, Ashraf al-Qidra, said first responders and residents were now searching through the rubble for survivors and the dead.

The camp is located in the evacuation zone where Israel’s military had urged Palestinian civilians in Gaza to seek refuge as it focused its military offensive in the northern areas.

Despite such appeals, Israel has continued its bombardment across Gaza, saying it is targeting Hamas fighters and assets everywhere in the besieged enclave.

It has accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields.

Critics say Israel’s strikes are often disproportionate, considering the large number of women and children killed in such attacks.

The latest attack on the Maghazi refugee camp comes hours after two strikes hit a UN-run school, sheltering thousands, on Saturday.

Several people living in tents in the schoolyard were killed, as well as women who were baking bread inside the building, the UN reports.

Spokeswoman Juliette Touma said, as per initial reports, 20 people were killed in the bombing.

The Gaza Health Ministry said 15 people were killed at the school and another 70 wounded.

In another attack on Gaza on Saturday, Health Ministry spokesman Medhat Abbas said two people were killed in a strike by the gate of al-Nasser Hospital.

Another strike hit near the entrance to the emergency ward of al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City, injuring at least 21, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

The World Health Organisation called attacks on health care in Gaza “unacceptable”.

At least 1,115 Palestinian dual nationals and wounded have exited Gaza into Egypt, but on Saturday, authorities in Gaza did not allow foreign passport holders to leave because Israel was preventing the evacuation of Palestinian patients for treatment in Egypt, said Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority.

The UN said about 1.5 million people in Gaza, or 70% of the population, have fled their homes.