By Nidal al-Mughrabi
CAIRO (Reuters) -An Israeli airstrike that hit a number of homes and a multi-storey residential constructing in Beit Lahiya city in northern Gaza on Saturday brought about dozens of casualties, docs and officers mentioned, with rescue operations nonetheless underway.
The Hamas media workplace mentioned not less than 73 folks had been killed within the strike. No official casualty figures have been instantly out there from the well being ministry nevertheless Medway Abbas, a senior well being ministry official, mentioned the figures have been correct.
The Israeli army mentioned it was wanting into the incident however mentioned the numbers issued by the Hamas media workplace have been exaggerated. It mentioned the figures didn’t align with its personal data, the exact munitions used or the accuracy of the strike, which it mentioned was directed at a Hamas goal.
Palestinian well being officers mentioned rescue operations have been being hampered by the cut-off of telecommunication and web providers for a second day. Earlier within the day, the Gaza well being ministry mentioned Israeli army strikes killed 35 Palestinians throughout the enclave.
“This is a war of genocide and ethnic cleansing. The occupation has conducted a horrifying massacre in Beit Lahiya,” the Hamas media workplace mentioned.
Residents and medics mentioned Israeli forces had tightened their siege on Jabalia, the most important of the enclave’s eight historic camps, which it encircled by additionally sending tanks to the close by cities of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and issuing evacuation orders to residents.
Israeli officers mentioned evacuation orders have been geared toward separating Hamas fighters from civilians and denied there was any systematic plan to clear civilians out of Jabalia or different northern areas.
In Jabalia, residents mentioned Israeli forces besieged a number of shelters housing displaced households earlier than they stormed them and detained dozens of males. Footage on social media, which Reuters couldn’t instantly confirm, confirmed dozens of Palestinian males sitting on the bottom subsequent to a tank, whereas others have been led by a soldier to a gathering website.
Residents and medical officers mentioned Israeli forces have been bombing homes and besieging hospitals, stopping medical and meals provides from coming into to power them to depart the camp.
Well being officers mentioned they refused orders by the Israeli military to evacuate the hospital or go away the sufferers, many in crucial situation, unattended.
“Hospitals in northern Gaza suffer from stark shortages of medical supplies and manpower and are overwhelmed by the number of casualties,” mentioned Hussam Abu Safiya.
“We are now trying to decide who among the wounded we needed to attend to first, and several wounded died because we could not deal with them,” he mentioned.
SINWAR LEAFLETS
Earlier on Saturday, Israeli planes dropped leaflets over southern Gaza displaying an image of the useless Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar with the message “Hamas will no longer rule Gaza”, echoing language utilized by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The transfer got here as Israeli army strikes killed not less than 108 folks throughout the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Palestinian well being officers mentioned.
“Whoever drops the weapon and fingers over the hostages shall be allowed to depart and reside in peace,” read the leaflet, written in Arabic, according to residents of the southern city of Khan Younis and images circulating online.
The leaflet’s wording was from a statement by Netanyahu on Thursday after Sinwar was killed by Israeli soldiers operating in Rafah, in the south near the Egyptian border, on Wednesday.
The Oct. 7 attack Sinwar planned on Israeli communities a year ago killed around 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.
In the central Gaza Strip camp of Al-Maghzai, an Israeli strike on a house killed 11 people, while another strike at the nearby camp of Nuseirat killed four others.
Five other people were killed in two separate strikes in the south Gaza cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, medics said, while seven Palestinians were killed in the Shati camp in the northern Gaza Strip.
Later on Saturday, an Israeli strike killed three Palestinians in Nuseirat, medics said.
Late on Friday, medics said 33 people, mostly women and children, were killed and 85 others were wounded in Israeli strikes that destroyed at least three houses in Jabalia.
The Israeli army mentioned it was unaware of that incident.
It mentioned forces have been persevering with operations in opposition to Hamas throughout the enclave, killing a number of gunmen in Rafah and Jabalia and dismantling army infrastructure. Palestinian medics mentioned 5 folks have been killed in Jabalia on Saturday.
(Reporting and writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi. Extra reporting by Ali Sawafta and Maayan Lubell, writing by Ahmed Tolba; Modifying by Andrew Heavens, Marguerita Choy, Daniel Wallis and Alistair Bell)
