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Nuseirat refugee camp massacre
Part of the Israel–Hamas war and the Rafah offensive
Nuseirat refugee camp is located in the Gaza StripNuseirat refugee campNuseirat refugee campLocation within the Gaza Strip
LocationNuseirat refugee camp, Gaza Strip, Palestine
Date8 June 2024
Attack typeRaid, airstrikes, massacre
Deaths
  • At least 276 Palestinians killed (per Palestinian health officials)
  • Less than 100 Palestinian casualties (Per IDF)
InjuredOver 698 Palestinians
VictimsPalestinian civilians and militants
Perpetrators Israel Defense Forces
Israel–Hamas war
7 October Hamas-led attack on Israel
Military engagements
Civilian attacks
Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
Military engagements
Civilian attacks
Other theaters
Red Sea crisis
Attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan
Israeli invasion of Lebanon
Iran–Israel proxy conflict
Assassinations and deaths of prominent individuals
See also

On 8 June 2024, during a rescue operation carried out by Yamam, the Shin Bet and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) units in the UNRWA Nuseirat refugee camp, at least 276 Palestinians were killed and over 698 injured, according to the Hamas media office and Palestinian health officials from Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital and Al-Awda Hospital. According to reports, Al-Aqsa Hospital was overwhelmed with casualties, while communications were disrupted by intense Israeli bombing. Four Israeli hostages held by Hamas at Nuseirat were rescued in the operation, including Noa Argamani. Hamas said that three other hostages were killed, including an American hostage, but the IDF rejects this claim.

The event took place two days after an Israeli airstrike in the same camp hit the al-Sardi school that was sheltering displaced Palestinian refugees, Local health officials reported the deaths of more than 30 people, including 12 women and children. Israel said it was targeting Hamas militants who took part in the 7 October attack.

Background

The Nuseirat refugee camp is a long standing UNRWA refugee camp located in the middle of the Gaza Strip, in Deir al-Balah. The camp has been repeatedly bombed during the Israel-Hamas war, with over a hundred Palestinians killed in the attacks. The most recent attack on the camp occurred only days before the rescue operation, with IDF forces striking the UNRWA school in the camp, killing at least 33 people. It is unclear how many of this number were civilians.

Rescue operation and bombardment

An Israeli military spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said that the rescue mission took place in the heart of the residential neighborhood in the Nuseirat refugee camp, where the four hostages were reportedly kept in two separate residential apartment blocks. According to Omar Ashour, a professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Israeli forces launched heavy operations on Deir al-Balah and Bureij, and then launched an intense assault on Nuseirat. The operation reportedly involved hundreds of troops and heavy air support that hit parts of the refugee camp.

According to witnesses, Israeli military vehicles unexpectedly moved into the camp, with the movement coinciding with heavy bombardment of large areas of the camp. Journalists on the ground described "intense bombardment", including "artillery shelling, air strikes and also live ammunition from the warships." A video showing an IDF helicopter taking off from the beach with the US humanitarian-aid pier in the background began to circulate online on 8 June, and the U.S. was accused of using the humanitarian pier in the IDF operation, but two US officials denied this.

Special forces members entered the refugee camp posing as Palestinian refugees fleeing Rafah, according to Israeli security sources. They reportedly told locals that they were escaping the Israeli assault on Rafah, while other Palestinian locals stated that other forces entered in humanitarian trucks. A witness stated Israeli specialized forces had arrived with furniture on their vehicle to appear like refugees, and then, "The operative got out two ladders and came into our home fully armed. Chaos erupted with gunfire and explosions".

Assault and firefight

According to the IDF, a large firefight occurred as the rescue forces were attempting to disengage with the hostages, reportedly coming under fire from dozens of militants with RPGs and machine guns when their vehicle became stuck. Subsequent airstrikes then killed militants and civilians. A local resident and paramedic called the attack like a "horror movie" and that Israeli drones and warplanes fired throughout the night at people's homes and those who tried to flee. Another witness stated, "Anyone who was moving in the street was killed".

Many individual testimonies of eyewitnesses who survived the intense fire-fight have been collected, according to Mondoweiss. Social media footage that Reuters was unable to immediately verify showed the aftermath of the assault, with bodies with entrails hanging out on bloodstained streets.

According to Hamas, several Israeli hostages were killed in the Israeli attack. The group claimed in a video clip that three hostages were killed during the operation including an American.

Casualties

The Gaza Health Ministry and health officials reported that at least 274 Palestinians were killed and 698 were wounded due to the Israeli rescue operation. Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari stated that Israeli was aware of "under 100" Palestinians had been killed in the operation. Neither the health ministry nor Hagari clarified how many casualties were civilians. The Gazan Health Ministry reported that 64 children and 57 women were killed.

Trucks and ambulances rushed casualties to Al-Aqsa Hospital for treatment. Prior to the massacre, the hospital had already been overwhelmed with civilian casualties. A Doctors Without Borders (MSF) representative described the situation at Al-Aqsa as a "nightmare." An MSF paediatric intensive care doctor at Al-Asqa stated the emergency department was a "complete bloodbath… it looks like a slaughterhouse". The same doctor stated only one generator at the hospital was functioning, meaning ventilators, lights, and the internet were not working. Another MSF doctor stated, "We had the gamut of war wounds, trauma wounds, from amputations... to , fractures and, obviously, big burns".

Impacts

The World Food Programme paused its operation with the U.S. humanitarian pier due to security concerns. UN human rights experts condemned the Israeli forces for allegedly hiding in aid trucks that came from the pier, describing the action as a war crime.

Reactions

See also: 2024 Nuseirat rescue operation § Reactions

Domestic

  •  Hamas: Abu Obaida, the spokesman for the Hamas Al-Qassam Brigades, condemned the raid and called it a "complex war crime".
  •  Palestine: President Mahmoud Abbas instructed the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations to request an emergency session to the UN Security Council to discuss the repercussions of the operation and resulting deaths. Abbas emphasized the "urgent need for international intervention to halt the humanitarian catastrophe."

International

Governments

Supranational

  •  United Nations: United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres described the aftermath in graphic detail including the scenes of "shredded bodies on the ground." Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, said, "Countries that celebrate the release of four Israeli hostages without saying a word about the hundreds of Palestinians killed and thousands held in arbitrary detention by Israel, have lost moral credibility for generations and don’t deserve to be on any U.N. human rights body." UN human rights experts condemned what they described as the "umpteenth massacre by Israeli forces in Gaza" and condemned the Israeli forces for hiding in humanitarian aid trucks that were coming from the US humanitarian-aid pier. The U.N. Human Rights Office described possible war crimes committed during the operation, including possible violations of the rules of proportionality, distinction and precaution.
  •  European Union: Top European Union diplomat Joseph Borrell described the operation as a massacre.
  •  Organization of Islamic Cooperation: In a statement, the OIC condemned "the horrific massacre carried out by the Israeli occupation army, which resulted in the murder and injury of hundreds of Palestinians".
  •  Gulf Cooperation Council: Secretary-General Jassem Mohamed Albudaiwi described the operation as a "terrorist crime that targeted unarmed civilians with unprecedented barbarism."
  • Arab Parliament: In a statement, the Arab Parliament condemned the operation, describing it as a massacre

Humanitarian aid groups

  • The Palestine Red Crescent Society denounced the use of a humanitarian aid truck as a disguise for military operations, labeling it as a "violation of international humanitarian and customary law" and noting that such actions constitute perfidy, which is considered a war crime.
  • The Doctors Without Borders coordinator in Gaza asked, "How many more men, women and children have to be killed before world leaders decide to put an end to this massacre?" According to Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, a Doctors Without Border pediatrician, colleagues in the emergency department at Al-Asqa hospital described the situation by "repeating the word massacre, massacre, massacre over and over again."

Other

  • Saul Takahashi, a professor at Osaka Jogakuin University and a former deputy for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, stated, "The claim that the Israeli attack on Nuseirat camp was justified is completely ignorant of international law. Israel has shown itself time and time again that it does not care about international and humanitarian laws."

See also

Notes

  1. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, at least 64 of those killed were children.

References

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