The Hamas-run health ministry says the number of Palestinians killed in Saturday’s Israeli raid on the Nuseirat refugee camp has risen to 274, up from 210 deaths reported earlier.
The health ministry said 698 people were injured.
Israel carried out a series of strikes yesterday in a bid to rescue hostages being held by Hamas.
Four Israeli hostages were rescued during the operation.
Israel previously said there were “under 100” Palestinian casualties during raids on the refugee camp, where it said the four freed hostages were being held in two locations.
Meanwhile, at least 37,084 Palestinians have been killed and 84,494 wounded since the start of the war with Israel, the Gaza Health Ministry says.
The ministry adds Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed 283 people and injured 814 in the past 24 hours – which includes Saturday’s Israeli raid on the Nuseirat refugee camp.
While some Israeli officials have sought to cast doubt on fatality figures from Gaza, a number of independent groups say they have proved to be largely reliable and broadly in line with those later produced by the UN and Israel itself.
Examination of data from previous Gaza conflicts – when the Hamas-run health ministry’s counts were compared with the post-war United Nations analysis – shows that the initial data is largely accurate with, at most, a 10-12% discrepancy.
On the Israeli side, it has acknowleged “under 100” Palestinian casualties during raids on the Nuseirat refugee camp, where it says the four freed hostages were being held in two locations.
Gazan paramedics and residents said the assault killed scores of people and left the mangled bodies of men, women and children around a marketplace and a mosque.
“It was like a horror movie but this was a real massacre,” said Ziad, 45, a paramedic and resident of Nuseirat, who gave only his first name.
“Israeli drones and warplanes fired all night randomly at people’s houses and at people who tried to flee the area.”
“To free four people, Israel killed dozens of innocent civilians,” he added.
This is just as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has instructed Palestine’s envoy to the United Nations Riyad Mansour to request an emergency session of the UN Security Council to discuss Israel’s recent operation in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, the WAFA news agency reported.
According to the report, members of the UN Security Council need to discuss “the repercussions of the Israeli assault on the Nuseirat camp [that] has claimed the lives of hundreds of martyrs and left numerous others wounded.”
Written with agency reports
