Dozens killed in Gaza strikes as Israel intensifies Nuseirat attacks

Israeli strikes hit central and southern Gaza as military intensifies bombardment

Palestinians gather at the UN-run Al Razi school in Nuseirat refugee camp after an Israeli strike. AFP

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Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza over the past 24 hours, Palestinian authorities reported, with schools and camps for displaced people again coming under attack.

More than 80 people had been killed in the 24 hours since Tuesday afternoon, the Gaza Ministry of Health said on Wednesday.

In the latest attacks on Wednesday, at least five were killed and others injured in an Israeli air strike on a house in Nuseirat camp in southern Gaza, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.

Israeli warplanes struck a gathering of people outside a school in Al Remal neighbourhood in western Gaza city, killing 11 people including children and leaving scores injured.

Hamas condemned the attack as "a dangerous escalation of the aggression and the horrific violations to international law".

The Palestinian militant group recently resumed mediated negotiations with Israel for a ceasefire in Gaza, with talks expected to continue this week.

Also on Wednesday, seven were killed in a strike on the Diab family home in the central town of Al Zawayda, Wafa said.

In Tel Al Sultan in southern Gaza, to the west of Rafah, an Israeli strike killed five others, the agency reported.

The strikes come amid the deadliest weeks of the war so far as Israel scales back its ground offensives – which have devastated much of the enclave – and intensifies aerial and artillery attacks.

On Tuesday, at least 40 were killed in strikes on Nuseirat camp in central Gaza and Al Mawasi, near the southern city of Khan Younis.

Those strikes hit a UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) school and an area classed as a safe zone by the Israeli army, both sheltering thousands of displaced people.

Both areas have been repeatedly struck by the military, which has increased attacks on schools in recent weeks.

The Tuesday attack was at least the eighth attack on a UN-run school sheltering IDPs in less than a week.

The UN, world leaders, and humanitarian organisations have consistently warned there is no safe place for civilians to turn in Gaza.

Israel's closure of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt has also left the enclave's 2.3 million population with no escape.

Palestinians inspect a damaged UNRWA school following an Israeli air strike on Al Nuseirat refugee camp. EPA

Humanitarian collapse

Its seizure of Gaza's crossings has choked aid deliveries into the enclave, worsening widespread food shortages months after UN agencies warned of impending famine.

As the death toll continues to soar, Gaza's Health Ministry has warned that many hospitals are on the brink of collapsing as vital equipment remains undelivered.

"We expect a number of major generators to be out of service during the coming period as a result of preventing the entry of spare parts needed for preventive and periodic maintenance," the ministry said in a "distress call" published on social media.

"This means certain death for the sick and injured and the complete end of the health service," it added.

Deir Al Balah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital is currently operating on only one generator, the ministry said, after the second broke down.

"A disaster is imminent and the hospital will be completely out of service.

The ministry recently warned that aid and medical supplies were "piling up" on the other side of Gaza's border crossings.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin discussed aid deliveries to Gaza with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant on Tuesday, urging Israel to increase aid flow into the war-torn territory.

Mr Austin said Israel must increase the flow of humanitarian aid “through all land crossings,” in addition to supporting deliveries to Ashdod port for onward distribution in Gaza.

It came as Washington prepares to shut down the short-lived pier built for humanitarian aid deliveries off the Gaza coast.

The $230 million project lasted less than three weeks amid poor weather, damaged equipment, and concerns heavy fighting would hamper aid distribution efforts.

It was also heavily criticised amid claims it was used by Israeli forces to stage a hostage rescue operation which killed at least 274 Palestinians in Nuseirat.