 "Smoke billows from a residential building following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City. Source: AFP | FILE.")
At least 93 people have been killed, and more than 40 are missing after an overnight Israeli air strike on a residential building housing displaced people in Beit Lahiya, director-general of the Gaza Government Media Office, Ismail al-Thawabta, said on Tuesday.
A report by AFP quoted Gaza’s civil defence agency spokesperson as saying that several people have been “martyred” and dozens more wounded are under the rubble of a five-storey residential building belonging to the Abu Nasr family that was hit by the Israeli occupation last night in Beit Lahia.
‘Most killed are women & children’
“The explosion happened at night and I first thought it was shelling, but when I went out after sunrise I saw people pulling bodies, limbs and the wounded from under the rubble,” a report by AFP quoted Rabie al-Shandagly, 30, who had taken refuge in a nearby school in Beit Lahia, as saying.
“Most of the victims are women and children, and people are trying to save the injured, but there are no hospitals or proper medical care,” he told AFP.
Residential building attacked by Israel housed 200 people
According to a report by Al Jazeera saying that the residential that was attacked by Israel housed 200 people. So far, 83 people have been buried.
Kamal Adwan Hospital director Hussam Abu Safia told AFP that the bodies of 15 people killed in the strike were brought to the healthcare facility, who further informed that 35 wounded people, most of them children, were being treated at the hospital.
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More Shorts“We are still receiving a number of martyrs and wounded,” Safia said, adding that the hospital was struggling to treat patients due to a lack of staff and medicines.
Hospitals don’t have enough to treat patients, Safia said, adding: “There is nothing left in the Kamal Adwan Hospital except first aid materials after the army arrested our medical team and workers when they invaded the hospital during the military operation in Jabalia.”
Last week, the Gaza health ministry said Israeli troops had stormed the hospital, while the Israeli military said it was operating around it.
“The enemy has committed another horrific massacre against our people, and northern Gaza is being subjected to a campaign of ethnic cleansing and systematic displacement,” Hamas said in a statement condemning the Beit Lahia attack.
Since October 6, the military has conducted a sweeping air and ground assault in northern Gaza, particularly in the areas of Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, in what it describes as an operation to prevent Hamas militants from regrouping.
In a statement issued on Tuesday morning, the military said it had carried out several ground and air strikes in Jabalia over the past day, killing around 40 militants.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been forced to flee northern Gaza since the onslaught began, while the civil defence agency has reported hundreds of deaths.
With inputs from AFP.