A MOTHER and her six children were among at least 60 people killed by an Israeli strike on a five-storey building where displaced Palestinians were sheltering in northern Gaza.
Gaza's health ministry said more than half of those killed in the strike early on Tuesday in the northern town of Beit Lahiya were women and children.
Another 20 people were injured by the strike.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
The dead included a mother and her six children, and a second mother with her five children, some of them adults, according to an initial casualty list provided by the emergency services.
Dr Hossam Abu Safiya, director of the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital, said it was overwhelmed by the wave of wounded people from the strike.
Israeli forces raided the medical facility over the weekend, detaining dozens of medics.
The Israeli military has repeatedly struck shelters for displaced people in recent months, saying it carried out precise strikes targeting Palestinian militants and tried to avoid harming civilians. The strikes have often killed women and children.
The military said it detained scores of Hamas militants in the raid on Kamal Adwan, the latest in a series of raids on hospitals since the start of the war.
Israel has also been targeting hospitals in Lebanon, such as the Al Sahel Hospital in Beirut, which the military claimed sits above a hidden Hezbollah bunker containing millions of dollars in cash and gold.
We told how an investigation carried out by the BBC disputed these claims, finding “nothing inside”.
The latest strikes come as Israel’s parliament passed two bills on Monday evening that would strip UNRWA – the United Nations Palestinian relief agency – of legal immunities and restrict its ability to support Palestinians in the West Bank, occupied East Jerusalem, and Gaza.
The ban could come into force in the next three months, and could see UNRWA evicted from headquarters and offices, as well as end visas for UNRWA staff.
It is understood to severely block the organisations ability to provide essential services such as healthcare and education to millions of Palestine refugees.
More than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s military offensive since October 7, when Hamas stormed into Israel and killed around 1200 people, taking around 250 people hostage.
Israel says some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead. About 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people have been displaced from their homes, often multiple times.
