Near Nuseirat on Saturday, an AFP photographer saw scores of Palestinians running for cover in fear of further Israeli strikes.

After the operation, piles of smouldering rubble and chunks of concrete clogged the streets.

The Hamas media office said “the number of victims from the Israeli occupation’s massacre in the Nuseirat camp has risen to 210 martyrs and more than 400 wounded”. Israeli police said an officer was mortally wounded during the rescue operation.

Nuseirat resident Khalil Al-Tahrawi described hearing gun battles and shelling from his shelter. “The Israeli warplanes began bombing us in all directions to cover up the withdrawal process,” he said.

The operation came days after an Israeli strike on the Nuseirat school run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, which a Gaza hospital said had killed 37 people and the military claimed targeted “terrorists”. UNRWA condemned Israel for striking a facility it said had been housing 6,000 displaced people.