Israeli strike in northern Gaza kills dozens at building where displaced people were taking refuge, officials there say
An Israeli strike on a five-story building where displaced Palestinians were sheltering in the northern Gaza Strip killed at least 60 people early Tuesday, more than half of them women and children, Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry said.
Dr. Marwan al-Hams, director of the field hospitals department at the Gaza Health Ministry, announced the toll from Tuesday's strike in the northern town of Beit Lahiya at a news conference, adding that another 17 people were missing.
The Reuters news agency reported that the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said many people were believed to still be trapped under rubble.
The health ministry's emergency service said the dead included at least 12 women and 20 children, including babies.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement Tuesday that it was "aware of reports that civilians were harmed" in the area and that "the details of the incident are being looked into."
Israel has been waging a large-scale operation in northern Gaza for more than three weeks, targeting what it says are pockets of Hamas militants who have regrouped there.
"The IDF is conducting targeted operations and making efforts to avoid causing harm to uninvolved civilians. We emphasize that the area was evacuated by the IDF and it is currently an active combat zone," the IDF statement said.
Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, the director of the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital, said it was overwhelmed by the wave of wounded people from the strike.
Israeli forces raided the medical facility over the weekend, detaining dozens of medics, the latest in a series of raids on hospitals since the start of the war. The military said it detained scores of Hamas militants in the raid on Kamal Adwan.
The Israeli military has repeatedly struck shelters for displaced people in recent months, saying it carried out precise strikes targeting Palestinian militants and tried to avoid harming civilians. The strikes have often killed women and children.
Israel's latest major operation in northern Gaza, focused on the Jabaliya refugee camp, has killed hundreds of people and driven tens of thousands from their homes in another wave of mass displacement more than a year into the war in the tiny coastal territory.
Israel has also sharply restricted aid to the north this month, prompting a warning from the United States that failure to facilitate greater aid efforts could lead to a reduction in military aid.
Palestinians fear Israel is enacting a plan proposed by a group of former generals who suggested the civilian population of the north should be ordered to evacuate, aid supplies should be cut off, and anyone remaining there should be considered a militant.
The military has denied it's carrying out such a plan, while the government hasn't said clearly whether it's conducting all or part of it.