Gaza: The Ministry of Health in Gaza said that at least 93 Palestinians were martyred, dozens were missing, and dozens were injured in an Israeli raid on a residential building in the town of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
Medics said that among the dead were at least 20 children.
The Ministry of Health in the region said, in a statement, that “a number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them.”
Later on Tuesday, Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the government media office, put the death toll at 93.
There was no immediate Israeli comment. The Israeli army has often questioned death toll figures published by Hamas’s media office, saying they are often exaggerated.
Video footage obtained by Reuters showed several bodies wrapped in blankets on the ground outside a bombed four-story building. More bodies and survivors were recovered from the wreckage as neighbors rushed to help with the rescue.
“There are dozens of martyrs (dead) – dozens of displaced people were living in this house. The house was bombed without warning. Ismail Awaida, a witness who was helping to recover the bodies, said in the video clip: “As you can see, the martyrs are here and there, and the body parts are hanging on Walls.”
The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said on Monday that about 100,000 people were stranded in Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun without medical or food supplies. Reuters was unable to independently verify the number.
The Ministry of Health said on Tuesday that those injured in the strike were unable to receive care because doctors had to evacuate the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital.
The ministry said in a statement: “Critical cases, without intervention, will succumb to their fate and die.”
The Gaza Emergency Service said its operations were halted due to the three-week Israeli attack on northern Gaza. Israel says its campaign aims to destroy Hamas, whose fighters have returned to the region in the year-long war.
The Gaza Ministry of Health said that the death toll as a result of the retaliatory Israeli air and ground attack on Gaza exceeded 43,000 people.
The war in Gaza sparked a broader conflict in the Middle East, with Israel bombing Lebanon and sending forces south to disrupt Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas.
Tuesday’s strike came a day after the Israeli Knesset passed a law prohibiting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) from operating inside the country, raising concern among some of Israel’s Western allies who fear that this will exacerbate the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Israeli officials indicated the involvement of a handful of thousands of UNRWA employees in the October 7, 2023 attack and the membership of a small number of employees in Hamas and other armed groups.
UNRWA Director General Philippe Lazzarini described the move as “collective punishment.”
It is not yet clear how the decision will affect the lives of Palestinians, especially in the Gaza Strip, where the United Nations said that most of its 2.3 million residents have become internally displaced since the outbreak of war more than a year ago.