CAIRO, (Reuters): Israeli air attacks across Gaza have killed at least 38 Palestinians, most of them in a strike on a house in Beit Lahiya on the northern edge of the enclave, medics said.
The Beit Lahiya strike killed at least 22 people, including women and children, health officials said. Relatives listed the names of the dead on social media.
More than 30 people were living in the multi-storey building before it was struck, and several family members remained missing as rescue operations continued through the morning, the Palestinian WAFA news agency said.
The Israeli military told Reuters it had carried out a strike targeting Hamas militants near the Kamal Adwan Hospital, which is located between Beit Lahiya and Jabalia, towns on the northern fringe of Gaza under Israeli siege for two months.
It said it was continuing to examine the incident but described the number of fatalities reported by Palestinian medics and media as “inaccurate” and at odds with the army’s information.
In nearby Beit Hanoun, also part of the area under siege, medics said an Israeli airstrike killed and wounded several people, without giving an exact toll. Rescue workers said several people were trapped under rubble.
Earlier on Wednesday, at least seven Palestinians were killed and several others wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, medics told Reuters.
The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service and medics said nine other people were killed in three separate Israeli airstrikes on two houses and a crowd in Gaza City, including journalist Eman Al-Shanti, her husband, and three of their children.
Al-Shanti was the 193rd journalist killed by Israel since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, the Palestinian Union of Journalists said.
Earlier, the Israeli military said two rockets had been fired from central Gaza into Israel but fell in open areas and caused no injuries.
The rocket salvo demonstrated the ability of Gaza militants to continue to stage rocket attacks despite 14 months of devastating Israeli aerial and ground offensives.
Citing rocket launches from the area, the Israeli military ordered residents in the Al-Maghazi camp in central Gaza to evacuate. It urged them to head towards a humanitarian-designated zone near the Mediterranean coast.
Palestinian and United Nations officials say there are no safe areas in the widely devastated territory.
Israel says harm to civilians is a consequence of Palestinian militants hiding among them, an accusation Hamas denies.
Fighting has focused on the densely urbanised north, where Israeli armoured forces have been operating in Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahiya and Jabalia since October.
Israel says it is fighting to prevent Hamas militants regrouping and resuming attacks from those areas. Palestinian officials and residents accuse Israel of seeking to depopulate the area to create a buffer zone along the northern end of the coastal territory, which Israel denies.
UN to vote on ‘unconditional’ ceasefire in Gaza
The UN General Assembly will vote on a draft resolution that seeks an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, a symbolic gesture after the US previously vetoed a similar action in the UN Security Council.
In addition to calling for “an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire,” the draft resolution seeks “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages,” an accommodation of the United States and other staunch allies of Israel.
The resolution, which is non-binding, also demands “immediate access” to widespread humanitarian aid for the citizens of Gaza, who have been subjected to more than a year of war with Israel, especially in the besieged north of the territory.
“Gaza today is the bleeding heart of Palestine,” Palestinian UN ambassador Riyad Mansour said last week during the Assembly’s first debate on the resolution.
“The images of our children burning in tents, with no food in their bellies and no hopes and no horizon for the future, and after having endured pain and loss for more than a year, should haunt the conscience of the world and prompt action to end this nightmare,” he continued, calling for an end to the “impunity.’
Israel, meanwhile, has denounced the draft resolution ahead of the vote.
“If you truly want peace, it begins with dismantling this infrastructure of hate and the glorification of terror,” Israeli UN ambassador Danny Danon claimed, in reference to humanitarian agency UNRWA, whose employees were accused by Israel of assisting with the October 7 attacks.
The draft resolution seeks to address “the need for accountability” by asking UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to present “proposals on how the United Nations could help to advance accountability.”
An earlier draft seen by AFP aimed to establish an international mechanism to help investigate and prosecute those who are responsible for violating international law against the Palestinians.
However, that language was not included in the draft resolution that will be put to a vote.
A second draft resolution up for a vote will call on Israel to respect the mandate of UNRWA and allow it to continue its “safe and unhindered humanitarian assistance” operations, after Israel voted to ban it.
The ban, which is due to take effect on Jan 28, sparked global condemnation, including the United States, who is Israel’s main backer.
