A local hospital in Gaza says no fewer than 50 Palestinians have been killed in a series of Israeli air strikes in northern Gaza.
According to a report by the BBC, 22 children and 15 women were among the dead after a number of homes in Jabalia town and a refugee camp were hit overnight. A video shared online appeared to show at least a dozen bodies on the floor there.
The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports. It had warned residents of Jabalia and neighbouring areas to evacuate on Tuesday after a Palestinian armed group launched rockets into Israel.
It came as the UN’s humanitarian affairs chief urged members of the UN Security Council to take action to “prevent genocide” in Gaza.
BBC reported that 22 children and 15 women were among the dead after a number of homes in Jabalia town and a refugee camp were hit overnight. A video shared online appeared to show at least a dozen bodies on the floor there.
The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports. It had warned residents of Jabalia and neighbouring areas to evacuate on Tuesday after a Palestinian armed group launched rockets into Israel, the report adds.
It is understood that the air strikes came as the UN’s humanitarian affairs chief urged members of the UN Security Council to take action to “prevent genocide” in Gaza.
Tom Fletcher, speaking at a meeting in New York on Tuesday, accused Israel of “deliberately and unashamedly imposing inhumane conditions on civilians.”
He also called on Israel to lift its 10-week blockade on Gaza and criticised the Israeli-US plan to take over the distribution of humanitarian aid by using private companies, saying it was a “fig leaf for further violence and displacement” of Palestinians.
Israel’s envoy to the UN, Danny Danon, said the accusations were “baseless and outrageous.”
He insisted the existing system for aid was “broken” because it was being used to help Hamas’s war effort – an allegation both the UN and the armed group have denied.
