AN Israeli air strike on a school-turned-shelter in northern Gaza has killed 15 people, according to health officials.
Medhat Abbas, an official at the Gaza health ministry, told Reuters that the Abu Hussein school was sheltering displaced people at the time of the strike.
"There is no water to extinguish the fire," he said.
"There is nothing."
It's understood that dozens of people were also injured in the attack.
According to the Israeli Defense Forces, the strike targeted Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants who had gathered at the shelter in Jabalia.
The head of the Gazan health ministry's emergency unit said the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital was struggling to cope with the influx of casualties.
"Many women and children are in critical condition," he said.
It comes after a top United Nations humanitarian official accused Israel of blocking the delivery of desperately needed aid to Gaza.
Acting humanitarian chief Joyce Msuya and US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield stepped up the pressure on Israel at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the escalating humanitarian emergency, especially in northern Gaza.
The Biden administration gave Israel 30 days to take a number of actions, including sending 350 trucks with food and other aid into Gaza every day.
Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon insisted his country’s humanitarian efforts remain “as comprehensive as ever” and criticised the council for focusing on the humanitarian situation in Gaza while Israeli civilians “are being targeted daily by those who seek our destruction”.
Msuya told the council there is barely any food left in northern Gaza.
No food entered the north from October 2 to 15 “when a trickle was allowed in,” she said, and “most bakeries will be forced to shut down again in the next several days without additional fuel.”
