Palestinian react next to the bodies of their young relatives who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Al-Mawasi area, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 20 November 2024. EFE-EPA/HAITHAM IMAD
Palestinian react next to the bodies of their young relatives who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Al-Mawasi area, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 20 November 2024. EFE-EPA/HAITHAM IMAD

At least 66 killed in Israeli strike near hospital in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahia

Gaza/Jerusalem, Nov 21 (EFE).- At least 66 people were killed and over 100 injured Thursday in an Israeli strike on a residential block in the vicinity of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahia, medical sources said.

Among the dead are many women and children, Palestinian official news agency Wafa reported, calling the attack a «horrific massacre.»

Banner WhatsApp

Many more bodies are feared to be buried under the rubble due to the inability of rescue teams to reach the destroyed houses.

The staff at Kamal Adwan Hospital are pulling the victims out of the rubble with their bare hands due to the lack of rescue equipment and personnel, the hospital said a statement, adding that they were only able to provide first aid due to the lack of specialized surgeons.

Director Hussam Abu Safiya said that the hospital would become a mass grave if there was no urgent intervention by international institutions and medical supplies were not brought in.

The hospital was raided by Israeli troops in October and the military arrested more than 40 patients and medical staff and bombed its oxygen generators.

The attack in Beit Lahia occurred hours after another Israeli strike, which caused 22 deaths, in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, about three kilometers (1.6 miles) northwest of Gaza City.

The Israeli offensive in the north of the enclave, resumed in early October, has caused more than 2,000 deaths and injured around 6,000, according to Palestinian sources.

The Israeli military claims that its troops are trying to prevent, for the third time, Hamas militants from regrouping in this area, now besieged and with most of its population displaced to the south.

The total death toll in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war between Israel and Islamist group Hamas in October 2023 has exceeded 44,000, according to the Gazan health ministry’s data. EFE

ab-mgs/pd