Smoke billows over Gaza City's eastern suburb of Shujaiya following Israeli bombardment on June 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Rafah, June 29 (RHC)-- Israel has launched fresh ground and aerial attacks on Shujaiya neighborhood in the besieged Gaza Strip which was condemned by the Hamas resistance movement as “a full-fledged war crime.”

The Civil Defense in Gaza said at least seven Palestinians were killed and dozens others injured in the Israeli strikes on the residential area of Shujaiya, located east of Gaza City, on Thursday.  The toll is expected to rise as first responders have not been able to reach the targeted areas amid the heavy bombardment. 

The ongoing attack also forced tens of thousands of people to leave their homes.  The Palestine Red Crescent Society emphasized that there is no safe place for the residents of northern Gaza to seek refuge.

That came as the Israeli military issued ejection orders to residents of Shujaiya hours after the bombing began.  According to an Al Jazeera journalist, some civilians were hit while taking shelter at a UN school, and others while leaving the neighborhood after the bombing began.

Residents and reporters at the scene reported heavy air raids on different areas across the neighborhood, as well as artillery shelling and drone fire.  "The situation is really difficult. Constant bombing and shelling all around. It's really difficult," Nouh al-Sharnoubi, a civil defense staffer and Shujaiya resident, told Middle East Eye.

"I haven't witnessed something this intense since the peak of the Israeli aggression at the start of the war," he added. "Everyone in Shujaiya has left it."  Israeli ground forces were also seen advancing to the outskirts of the neighborhood.

Ali Abo Shanab, a report from Gaza, described the situation there as "terrifying."  "Difficult circumstances in every sense of the word," he said, adding "People have no place to go and left without carrying anything on them."

In a statement issued on Thursday, Hamas said the intensified attack on Shujaiya is “a continuation of the genocidal war” launched by the “fascist” Israeli regime against Palestinians in Gaza.  “This fascist policy of repeatedly targeting cities, camps and neighborhoods, and deliberately killing civilians and destroying infrastructure …is a full-fledged war crime.”

Hamas urged the international community to take immediate action to stop the Israeli crimes and hold the “terrorist entity” accountable for them.

The movement stressed that such crimes won’t hinder the Palestinians’ determination to remain on their land, and vowed that the resistance fighters will continue to “confront this fascist army and its terrorist machine” until Israel is defeated.

Shujaiya was targeted at the onset of the Israeli war on Gaza, leaving it one of the most devastated areas in the besieged strip.

The fresh attack comes as northern Gaza already suffers a hunger crisis, caused by an Israeli siege.

Late on Wednesday, a Palestinian girl died of malnutrition in northern Gaza, bringing to six the number of children who lost their lives due to the starvation crisis in just over a week.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which assesses global food insecurity and malnutrition, warned on Tuesday that almost all of Gaza will face famine within the next three months.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas launched the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

Since the start of the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 37,765 Palestinians and injured over 86,429. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.  Tel Aviv has also blocked water, food, and electricity to Gaza, plunging the coastal strip into a humanitarian crisis.