Israeli airstrike kills at least 55 Palestinian civilians in Beit Lahiya – reports
Here is a little more detail on the Israeli attack on Beit Lahiya this morning that, according to reports, killed at least 55 Palestinian civilians, many of whom were women and children.
Among the people who were killed included a mother and her five children, and another mother with her six children, according to an initial casualty list provided by the emergency service.
Dr Hossam Abu Safiya, the director of the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital, said it was overwhelmed by the number of people injured in the bombing who needed treatment.
“The world must take action and not just watch the genocide in the Gaza Strip,” he told Al Jazeera. “We call on the world to send specialised medical delegations to treat dozens of wounded people in the hospital.”
Israeli troops withdrew from the Kamal Adwan hospital on Saturday, after storming the medical facility and detaining dozens of its staff.
Key events
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the Middle East crisis amid Israel’s ongoing wars on Lebanon and Gaza.
At least 55 civilians, including children and women, were killed by an Israeli airstrike on the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya on Tuesday morning, Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, reported.
Israeli forces targeted a residential building sheltering displaced Palestinians, Wafa reported, adding that more than 20 injured people were taken to Kamal Adwan hospital, which has been hit by “continuous artillery shelling since dawn today”.
Dr Hussam Abu Safia, Kamal Adwan’s director general, told Al Jazeera that many of those injured in the attack died due to lack of resources in the hospital, which has reported dire shortages of fuel and other supplies amid relentless Israeli attacks in the area over recent weeks.
The Israeli military claims the aim of the renewed assault on the north is to prevent Hamas fighters from regrouping there. But the IDF has attacked hospitals and shelters, and food and water are running out thanks to a blockade on aid deliveries and sieges focused on northern Gaza’s Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun areas.
In other developments:
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The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has said Israel’s implementation of a law banning the UN Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa) from operating in Israel “could have devastating consequences for Palestine refugees” in the occupied territories and that was “unacceptable”. The Israeli legislation is expected to lead to the closure of Unrwa’s East Jerusalem headquarters and would effectively block the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza via Rafah in the south. The severing of diplomatic relations would preclude Israel from issuing entry and work permits to foreign Unrwa staff and prevent coordination with the Israeli military to permit aid shipments. The legislation will not come into effect immediately.
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Unrwa head Philippe Lazzarini called the Israeli decision “unprecedented” and said it was “nothing less than collective punishment” for Palestinians. The bills “will only deepen the suffering Palestinians, especially in Gaza, where people have been going through more than a year of sheer hell”. An Unrwa spokesperson said the law would be a “disaster” and have a serious impact on the humanitarian operation in Gaza and in the occupied West Bank.
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The Israeli military said a drone that hit the southern city of Ashkelon on Tuesday was launched from Yemen, from where Houthi rebels have mounted a drone and missile campaign in support of Hamas, the Palestinian militant group.
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Two people were killed in an Israeli strike near Syria’s border with Lebanon, a Syrian war monitor said on Tuesday – the second strike in less than a week near a key land crossing. Israeli warplanes attacked vehicles near Al-Nazariya village in Al-Qaseer countryside along the border with Lebanon, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that two people in the vehicles were killed.
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At least 60 people were killed and dozens wounded in Israeli strikes on Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa valley on Monday, according to reports. The country’s health ministry said the tolls covered several areas in the Baalbek region as its governor, Bachir Khodr, decried what he called the “most violent” raids on the area since the Israel’s assault on Lebanon was launched late last month. The Israeli military issued an evacuation order on Monday for large swathes of the southern Lebanese city of Tyre. Lebanon’s National News Agency reported “a series of strikes” on the ancient coastal city, beginning with a raid on a residential apartment which reportedly killed at least seven people.
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About 100,000 Palestinians are trapped in northern Gaza’s Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun areas without medical or food supplies, the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service warned. It said its operations had ground to a halt because of the three-week Israeli assault into the northern part of the Strip.
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Benjamin Netanyahu has denied reports that Israel has received a proposal that would include the release of four hostages in return for a 48-hour ceasefire in Gaza. The statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office came a day after Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, said his country has proposed a two-day ceasefire in Gaza which would entail an exchange of four Israeli hostages for some Palestinian prisoners. “If such a proposal were made, the prime minister would accept it on the spot,” Netanyahu’s office said.
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Israel and Iran have accused each of endangering Middle East peace in a heated exchange at a UN meeting in New York, called after Israel’s Saturday attack on Iranian military targets.