At least 73 Palestinians were killed on Saturday evening in an Israeli attack on Beit Lahiya, a town in northern Gaza, the enclave's state media office said. More than 100 people were injured and many are missing in the attack. Reports say doctors in the Gaza Strip said the Israeli air strike hit a multi-storey building and damaged several nearby houses.
The government media office has said that the Israeli army bombed crowded residential areas in Bet Lahiya and also said that women and children were also named among the casualties. The media office has said, 'This is a war of genocide and ethnic cleansing.'
The attack shook the entire western part of the city and caused buildings to collapse while people were still inside, Middle East Eye reported, citing Al Jazeera. Residents were not even warned to leave their homes. Many people were trapped under the rubble, and paramedics and civil defense teams were unable to reach the area immediately due to the intensity of the Israeli bombing.
Hosam Abu Safia, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, said that many of those injured in the attack could not survive due to a severe lack of resources, medical supplies and specialized personnel. He continued that dozens of people are missing under the rubble and could not be rescued due to 'lack of resources and ongoing attacks'.
At the same time, the Israel Defense Forces has said in a statement that the Hamas-controlled media is 'exaggerating' the casualty figures in Gaza. Not only this, the IDF has said that these claims do not match the precision of the weapons being used and the accuracy of the attack on the terrorist target belonging to the Hamas terrorist group.
The IDF has said that it is investigating the incident. It stressed that it happened in an active war zone and that it is making every effort to avoid harming innocent people. Earlier on Saturday, the Israeli army surrounded and bombed the Indonesian hospital it is guarding in Bet Lahiya.
The Palestinian Health Ministry says that the Israeli army targeted the upper floors where more than 40 patients and medical staff were present. Indonesian hospital director Marwan Sultan has said, 'Israeli tanks completely surrounded the hospital, cut off electricity and bombed the hospital, also targeting the second and third floors with artillery.' Saturday's attack came at a time when it was the 15th day of the Israeli siege on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
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