More than 60 Palestinians killed in Israeli strike on northern Gaza

Dawn attack destroys entire residential block near Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia

Civilians look for survivors in the rubble of a building hit by an Israeli strike near the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip. AFP

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More than 60 people were killed and hundreds wounded in an Israeli air strike on a residential block in northern Gaza on Thursday, with dozens more victims believed to be buried under rubble, medics and residents said.

The predawn attack struck buildings near the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the besieged town of Beit Lahia, hospital director Hussam Abu Safia told The National.

“The attack occurred without emergency or medical teams in the area. Doctors and nurses went to the site to rescue and treat victims, even carrying some on their shoulders to the hospital,” Dr Abu Safia said.

He said about 200 people had been rescued from the site, but the hospital was not equipped to treat them properly.

“The hospital lacks specialised surgery, providing only first aid, as Israel blocks medical teams and supplies. Without urgent international intervention, the hospital could become a mass grave,” he warned.

The hospital was raided by Israeli troops in October, with the army arresting most of its staff and bombing oxygen generators. The hospital has since been left with no specialist surgeons while Israel has escalated attacks on Beit Lahia and its surroundings.

Beit Lahia resident Sami Abu Jdayan, 27, said the buildings that were targeted were fully occupied, with hundreds of members of the Madhoun, Khudr, Abu Wadi, Shaqoura and Nassar families living there.

“The scene was catastrophic, with no medical teams available initially,” Mr Abu Jdayan said.

“Hospital staff rushed to provide aid. Many victims remain under the debris, while locals, under heavy danger from ongoing strikes, attempted rescues using simple tools. Most recovered bodies were dismembered, with many women and children,” he said.

Women and children account for most of the more than 44,000 people killed in Gaza since Israel launched a military offensive on the Palestinian enclave on October 7 last year, according to local health authorities. More than 104,000 others have been wounded, and several thousand are classed as missing.

The war was caused by raids that day into southern Israel by militants from Gaza, led by Hamas, in which about 1,200 people were killed and about 250 seized as hostages. The militants still hold about 100 hostages, including about 30 who are believed to have died in captivity.

A woman mourns during the funeral of Palestinians killed in an Israeli air strike on Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Thursday. Reuters

Israel intensified attacks on northern Gaza in early October, implementing a tight siege which has trapped hundreds of thousands of people, left the area with little food or water, and largely disabled medical and rescue services.

“Civil defence services in northern Gaza have been paralysed due to Israeli strikes, arrests and equipment destruction,” Mahmoud Basal, a civil defence spokesman, told The National.

“Since the start of the military operation, the Israeli army has deliberately targeted residential homes in northern Gaza to force displacement and depopulate the area, possibly for new settlement plans,” Mr Basal said.

“The Israeli occupation don’t warn people before attacking any home. In areas like Beit Lahia, attacks result in high casualties because the area is full of displaced people who evacuated from Jabalia and Tal Al Zateer,” he said, referring to nearby towns.

People stand on the rubble of a building hit in an Israeli strike on Beit Lahia last week. AFP

Despite the siege and continuing attacks, many residents of northern Gaza refuse to obey Israeli orders to leave, saying there is no place that is safe and they prefer to die in their homes.

“From the start of the military operation around 45 days ago, I decided not to leave my home or move elsewhere,” said Nahid Agha, who lives in Beit Lahia with his family of four.

“In the past, I experienced the humiliation of displacement, and my land and house are the most valuable things I own; I refuse to abandon them,” he told The National.

“From the beginning, I knew this operation was unlike any other, and despite the risks and relentless bombing, I chose to stay. The Israeli occupation continues constant shelling, committing ethnic cleansing in front the world, yet no one intervenes,” he said.

“Thousands in northern Gaza have not left, despite warnings, leaflets, and attacks. Those who remain have resolved to die on their land rather than surrender it to settlers. The Israeli army bombs homes with civilians inside daily to terrify us into fleeing, but they have not succeeded and will not succeed.”

The Beit Lahia attack on Thursday came hours after 29 people were killed in Gaza city and Khan Younis, with a single strike killing 22 people in Gaza's Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood. Ten children were among the victims of that attack, which completely destroyed a six-storey building, according to Wafa.