ISTANBUL

Israel’s special forces, who retrieved four hostages from the central Gaza Strip, infiltrated into the Nuseirat refugee camp using a humanitarian aid truck, local Palestinian sources said on Saturday. 

“The Israeli special forces used a closed transport truck and a civilian vehicle in the infiltration operation to retrieve the hostages,” the sources told Anadolu.

“These transport vehicles are widespread in the Gaza Strip and are used to transport humanitarian aid during the Israeli war,” they added.

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.

Some 210 Palestinians were killed and more than 400 injured on Saturday in severe Israeli airstrikes targeting Nuseirat refugee camp, areas east of Deir al-Balah, and al-Bureij and al-Maghazi camps in central Gaza, coinciding with a sudden incursion of vehicles east and northwest of Nuseirat.

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.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala