Nearly 100 killed in Israeli strike in Gaza amid anger over UN agency ban

Ahram Online , Wednesday 30 Oct 2024

An Israeli air strike on a single residential block in Beit Lahia killed nearly 100 people on Tuesday, Gaza's civil defence agency said, leaving rescuers scrambling for survivors as Israel pursued its deadly wars on Gaza and Lebanon.

Palestinians mourn over the bodies of relatives after an Israeli strike in Beit Lahia, in the northe
Palestinians mourn over the bodies of relatives after an Israeli strike in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip. AFP

 

Palestinian rescuers and desperate family members gathered around the demolished five-storey block in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza.

A charred body with long hair hung from an upper-storey window and bodies in blankets were lined up in the street as stunned relatives sought to identify loved ones.

"The number of martyrs in the massacre of the Abu Nasr family home in Beit Lahia has risen to 93 martyrs, and about 40 are still missing under the rubble," Gaza Civil Defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

'Women and 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," said Rabie al-Shandagly, 30.

"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.

Israel's key ally and backer the United States called the strike -- which killed a large number of children -- "horrifying".

"This was a horrifying incident with a horrifying result," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

"We have reached out to the government of Israel to ask what happened here."

Israel's army has been conducting a sweeping air and ground assault in northern Gaza since 6 October, particularly around Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled the area, more than 12 months into the Israeli war on Gaza that began on 7 October last year.

Israel has killed at least 43,061 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to figures from the health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable, triggering warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe.

The bombing came with Israel facing an international backlash after its parliament voted overwhelmingly to ban UNRWA, the main United Nations aid agency working with Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli lawmakers also passed a measure prohibiting Israeli officials from working with UNRWA.

Israel strictly controls all humanitarian aid shipments into Gaza, and UNRWA has provided essential aid, schooling and healthcare across the Palestinian territories and in the diaspora for more than seven decades.

'Devastating consequences'
 

Miller reiterated a warning to Israel that Israel Washington could withhold military assistance without improvements in humanitarian aid to Gaza.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said London was "gravely concerned" and the French foreign ministry said it "very strongly regrets" the law.

Germany, a staunch defender of Israel's security, warned it would "effectively make UNRWA's work in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem impossible".

UN chief Antonio Guterres said the Israeli law could have "devastating consequences" if implemented.

Israel's neighbour Jordan, which also hosts UNRWA offices, condemned the ban as a "continuation of Israel's frantic efforts to assassinate the UN agency politically".

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