Palestinians transporting their belongings on a donkey-pulled cart arrive in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip to seek shelter on May 18, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by AFP)
“Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has instructed Palestine’s envoy to the United Nations to request an emergency session of the UN Security Council to discuss the repercussions of the bloodshed committed by Israeli forces in the Nuseirat camp, the Palestine News Agency Wafa reported.
Turkish news wire – Anadolu reports that Abbas’ remarks came after heavy Israeli bombardment and sudden incursion into the Nuseirat refugee camp and other areas in the Gaza Strip left at least 210 people dead and more than 400 others injured.
“President Abbas is engaged in intensive communications with relevant Arab and international parties to convene this urgent session of the UN Security Council,” according to the agency.
Abbas emphasized “the urgent need for international intervention to halt the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza, and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”
According to witnesses, Israeli military vehicles unexpectedly advanced into areas east and northwest of the Nuseirat camp, coinciding with heavy artillery bombardment targeting large areas of the camp.
Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since a Hamas attack last Oct. 7 despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.
More than 36,800 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 83,500 others injured, according to local health authorities.
Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
