Israeli
strike on Gaza multi-storey residential building reportedly kills dozens
At least 73
people died in the strike, doctors and officials say; Israeli army disputes
casualty numbers and says attack was directed at a Hamas target
Guardian
staff and agencies
Sun 20 Oct
2024 06.22 CEST
An Israeli
airstrike that hit several houses and a multi-storey residential building in
the town of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza caused dozens of casualties, doctors
and officials said.
The Hamas
media office said at least 73 people had been killed in the strike on Saturday.
No official figures were immediately available from the health ministry,
however Medway Abbas, a senior health ministry official, said the figures were
accurate.
The Israeli
military said it was looking into the incident but that the numbers issued by
the Hamas media office were exaggerated. It said the figures did not align with
its own information, the precise munitions used or the accuracy of the strike,
which it said was directed at a Hamas target.
Palestinian
health officials said rescue operations were being hampered by the cut-off of
telecommunication and internet services for a second day.
Residents
and medics on Saturday said Israeli forces had tightened their siege on
Jabalia, the largest of the enclave’s eight historic camps, which it encircled
by also sending tanks to the nearby towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and
issuing evacuation orders to residents.
Israeli
officials said evacuation orders were aimed at separating Hamas fighters from
civilians and denied there was any systematic plan to clear civilians out of
Jabalia or other northern areas.
It came as
Benjamin Netanyahu’s house in the seaside town of Caesarea was hit by a drone
on Saturday, causing superficial damage and no casualties.
The Israeli
government said that one of the prime minister’s three homes was targeted by
three drones, two of which were intercepted, and that neither Netanyahu nor his
wife, Sara, were home at the time.
“The attempt
by Iran’s proxy Hezbollah to assassinate me and my wife today was a grave
mistake,” Netanyahu said in a statement, vowing that Iran and its proxies would
“pay a heavy price”.
In Jabalia,
residents said Israeli forces besieged several shelters housing displaced
families before they stormed them and detained dozens of men. Footage on social
media showed dozens of Palestinian men sitting on the ground next to a tank,
while others were led by a soldier to a gathering site.
Residents
and medical officials said Israeli forces were bombing houses and besieging
hospitals, preventing medical and food supplies from entering to force them to
leave the camp.
Health
officials said they refused orders by the Israeli army to evacuate hospitals or
leave the patients, many in critical condition, unattended.
“Hospitals
in northern Gaza suffer from stark shortages of medical supplies and manpower
and are overwhelmed by the number of casualties,” said Hussam Abu Safiya,
director of Kamal Adwan hospital.
The United
Nations’ top aid official said Palestinians were living through “unspeakable
horrors” under siege by Israeli forces in northern Gaza and insisted that
“these atrocities must stop”.
“In Jabalia,
people are trapped under the rubble and first responders are blocked from
reaching them,” the UN’s acting humanitarian chief Joyce Msuya said on X.
Earlier on
Saturday, Israeli planes dropped leaflets over southern Gaza showing a picture
of the dead Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar with the message “Hamas will no longer
rule Gaza”, echoing language used by Netanyahu.
US
vice-president Kamala Harris repeated her call for a ceasefire in Israel’s war
in Gaza and said it was important to seize the opportunity provided by the
killing of Sinwar.
“This
creates an opening that I believe we must take full advantage of – to dedicate
ourselves to ending this war and bringing the hostages home,” the Democratic
presidential candidate said on the campaign trail from Detroit.
The 7
October attack Sinwar planned on Israeli communities a year ago killed about
1,200 people, with another 253 dragged back to Gaza as hostages, according to
Israeli tallies.
Israel’s
subsequent war has devastated Gaza, killing more than 42,500 Palestinians, with
another 10,000 uncounted dead thought to lie under the rubble, Gaza health
authorities say.
Reuters
contributed reporting
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