Dozens killed in Israeli air strike on home near Gaza’s Nuseirat camp

Attacks near refugee camp killed at least seven civilians, Palestinian media report

People inspect damage and recover items from their homes after Israeli air strikes on March 16 in Nuseirat, Gaza Strip. Reuters

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More than 30 people were killed in an Israeli air strike that hit a house sheltering displaced Palestinians near Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp, a spokesman for the Palestinian territory’s Health Ministry said.

Survivors who spoke to Palestinian media said at least seven displaced families were living in the building, including many children and pregnant women, and that many are thought to be trapped beneath the rubble.

The victims were among 123 people killed in Gaza over 24 hours as Israel continued to launch attacks in its five-month-old war against Hamas, the Health Ministry said.

Israel continued to strike areas close to the Nuseirat refugee camp on Saturday, with at least seven civilians killed and others wounded, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Witnesses also reported air strikes and fighting in Khan Younis, Gaza’s main city in the south, as well as in the north where Israeli planes fired missiles at a seven-storey residential building near Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza city, causing "multiple deaths", Wafa reported.

Damage to a house that the Palestinian territory’s Health Ministry said was sheltering displaced Palestinians near Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp. Reuters

The Israeli military said its air strikes in Nuseirat killed at least 15 fighters from Hamas, including a sniper squad commander, and 10 other fighters elsewhere in central Gaza.

At least 31,553 Palestinians have been killed and 73,546 wounded since Israel started its campaign against Hamas in Gaza, the Health Ministry said on Saturday.

The war began after Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on October 7 in which about 1,200 people were killed and about 240 taken to Gaza as hostages.

The Israeli war cabinet on Friday approved a plan for a military incursion into Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city, while also keeping ceasefire hopes alive with plans to send another delegation to Qatar for talks on a possible hostage deal with Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he had approved a plan to attack the city on the southern edge of the enclave, where more than half of Gaza's 2.3 million residents have sought refuge from the fighting.

In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces raided the city of Nablus and two villages north of Ramallah on Saturday morning, Wafa reported.

Witnesses said Israeli troops entered Nablus from the west with 25 military vehicles as well as snipers.