Israeli strike in Gaza kills over 30 Palestinians, emergency services say

JERUSALEM — Israel’s military struck a house in the northern Gaza Strip where displaced families were sheltering Sunday, killing at least 34 people, according to the Palestinian Civil Defense, the main emergency service in the territory.

Dr. Mohammed Al Moghayer, a spokesperson for the group, said 14 children were among the dead after the strike in the city of Jabalia on Sunday morning. People were still trapped under the rubble, he added, warning that the death toll was likely to rise.

Wafa, the Palestinian Authority’s news agency, reported that the house, which was “crowded with residents and displaced people,” was destroyed. It said that a “large number” of wounded people were taken to the nearby Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City.

In response to questions about the strike Sunday, Israel’s military said it had hit “a terrorist infrastructure site” in Jabalia where militants who posed a threat to troops had been operating and that it had taken “numerous steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians.” The military, which said the details of the episode were under review, did not provide evidence for its assertions.

Ahmed Radwan lives next to the house that was struck in Jabalia and said its residents were all civilians. He said he heard the explosion as he was about to begin his dawn prayer.

“It was terrifying,” he said in a voice message Sunday, adding that his home was severely damaged by the strike.

“When I went outside to see what happened, I found my neighbors, the Allush family, scattered in the street from the intensity of the blast,” Radwan said.

“Some were missing a leg, others an arm, and many were dead,” he added.

Hours after the strike, a number of bodies were still under the rubble of the multistory family home, Radwan said.

“We don’t know how to get them out,” he said. “All we have is a shovel and a grub hoe.”

Dr. Hussam Abu Safyia, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalia, said the facility had received “distressing calls about people trapped under the rubble” Sunday but was unable to help. Kamal Adwan is one of the last semi-functional hospitals in northern Gaza but has been damaged by Israeli attacks and a raid over the past weeks.

Jabalia has come under repeated attack as the Israeli military has stepped up an offensive in areas of northern Gaza over the past month, saying it was trying to eliminate a regrouped Hamas presence there. Israel’s military has issued widespread evacuation orders for parts of northern Gaza, and Israeli troops, tanks and armed drones have bombarded the area almost daily.

Two Israeli soldiers were injured in the fighting in northern Gaza on Sunday, the military said.

The United Nations, aid groups and Gaza health authorities have warned that the Israeli offensive in the northern part of the enclave is causing widespread devastation and has killed hundreds of civilians.

The Israeli military’s evacuation orders have displaced nearly 100,000 people from areas of northern Gaza to Gaza City over the past month, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. It said that 75,000 to 95,000 people were estimated to remain in northern Gaza.

Some people have refused to evacuate out of fear of being permanently displaced from their homes. Some worry that they would face greater threats from destroyed roads or frequent bombardment if they were to move elsewhere, while others lack the financial means to relocate.

People who remain in northern Gaza are facing “an imminent and substantial likelihood of famine,” a U.N.-backed panel warned Friday. The panel, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, said action was needed “within days, not weeks” to alleviate the immense suffering in the enclave.

A separate strike on a residential building in Gaza City killed five Palestinians on Sunday, the Palestinian Civil Defense said in a statement, adding that the search for survivors was continuing.

But the emergency service added that its teams were “forcibly disabled” from working in all areas of northern Gaza because of the “ongoing targeting and Israeli aggression,” leaving thousands there “without humanitarian and medical care.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

© 2024 The New York Times Company