Gaza’s Civil Defense Reports 55 Killed in Israeli Air Strike
According to #Gaza’s civil defense organization, a nighttime #Israeli air attack killed around 55 individuals in a residential structure in the northern district of Beit Lahia.
“More than 55 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,” the agency’s spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
The Israeli military stated that it was “looking into the reports”.
“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,”
Rabie al-Shandagly, 30, had sought safety at a nearby school in Beit Lahia.
“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 the agency.
Hussam Abu Safia, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, told AFP that the bodies of 15 persons killed in the strike had been brought there.
He added 35 individuals had been injured, the most of them were children, and were being treated in the hospital.
“We are still receiving a number of martyrs and wounded,” Safia said, adding that the hospital was struggling to treat patients owing to a shortage of staff and medications.
“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,” Safia told the reporter.
Last Monday, the Gaza health ministry said that Israeli commandos had assaulted the hospital, while the Israeli military claimed it was working 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 stated in response to the Beit Lahia onslaught.
Since October 6, the military has carried out a massive air and ground assault in northern Gaza, particularly in the regions of Jabalia, Beit Lahia, and Beit Hanoun.
It described the action as an effort to prevent Hamas militants from regrouping.
In a statement issued Tuesday morning, the military said it had conducted numerous ground and air attacks in Jabalia throughout the previous day, killing around 40 extremists.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been forced to evacuate northern Gaza since the assault began, with the civil defense agency reporting hundreds of deaths.
AFP