GAZA CITY, Palestine

Deadly Israeli airstrikes on a “humanitarian safe zone” for displaced civilians in the southern Gaza Strip have triggered a massive wave of condemnations across the Palestinian territories.

At least 40 people were killed and dozens injured in Israeli airstrikes early Tuesday on a tent camp in Khan Younis in al-Mawasi area, which Israel has designated as a “humanitarian safe zone” for displaced civilians in Gaza.

Gaza’s civil defense service said the Israeli missiles set refugee tents ablaze and caused craters as deep as nine meters (30 feet) in the area.

The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority blamed the US support to Israel for the Palestinian bloodshed in the al-Mawasi area.

"It is time for Israel and the American administration to realize that the entire region is on the brink of explosion due to their policies that contravene international will and international legitimacy," spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement.

The National and Islamic Forces, an umbrella bloc that includes most of the Palestinian factions, accused Israel of turning the refugee tents into “new Nazi crematory ovens."

“We condemn the heinous massacre carried out by the Zionist enemy forces against the innocent and defenseless people in al-Mawasi with massive American bombs, which turned the refugee tents into ovens for a new Nazi holocaust,” it said in a statement.

The bloc called on the international community and peoples worldwide to stand for their responsibilities to halt Israeli assaults in Gaza, and hold Israeli war criminals accountable for their “crimes” against Palestinians.

Last month, at least 100 people were killed and dozens injured in an Israeli strike on the Al-Taba’een School in Gaza City, where over 6,000 displaced people have sheltered.

Israel has systematically targeted civilian facilities, including schools, hospitals, and places of worship, amid its ongoing offensive on the Gaza Strip despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

Under the rules of war, targeting such civilian facilities can constitute a war crime. The Israeli onslaught has killed nearly 41,000 people, mostly women and children, and injured 94,800 others, according to local health authorities.

An ongoing blockade of the enclave has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.

Israel faces accusations of genocide for its actions in Gaza at the International Court of Justice.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara