GAZA CITY, Palestine

Scores of people were killed and injured in Israeli airstrikes on the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip early Tuesday, the Civil Defense Service said.

Israeli warplanes bombed several houses on the eastern side of the camp as dozens of people were inside, the service said.

“More than 50 people are estimated to have been inside these houses during the Israeli attack,” it added in a statement.

The service said four people, including a child, had so far been recovered, while scores of people remained under the rubble of destroyed houses.

Witnesses said Israeli drones and military vehicles opened fire on ambulances and civil defense teams as they tried to approach the area to help the victims.

"The scene is catastrophic in the area struck by the Israeli army as there are a large number of victims still under the rubble," an eyewitness told Anadolu.

“It is a new massacre committed by the Israeli army, which destroyed three houses in the area,” he added.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last Oct. 7, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

More than 41,200 people, mostly women and children, have since been killed and over 95,400 injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine.

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

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara