UN Condemns Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza's Beit Lahiya

 Palestinians gather at the site of Israeli strikes on houses and residential buildings, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip October 20, 2024. REUTERS/Abdul Karim Farid
Palestinians gather at the site of Israeli strikes on houses and residential buildings, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip October 20, 2024. REUTERS/Abdul Karim Farid
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UN Condemns Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza's Beit Lahiya

 Palestinians gather at the site of Israeli strikes on houses and residential buildings, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip October 20, 2024. REUTERS/Abdul Karim Farid
Palestinians gather at the site of Israeli strikes on houses and residential buildings, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip October 20, 2024. REUTERS/Abdul Karim Farid

The UN peace envoy for the Middle East on Sunday condemned the continued attacks on civilians after Israeli airstrikes in Gaza's Beit Lahiya killed dozens late on Saturday.

"This follows weeks of intensified operations resulting in scores of civilian fatalities and near total lack of humanitarian aid reaching populations in the north," said Tor Wennesland, the UN Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.

For his part, civil defense agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said: "Our civil defense crews recovered 73 martyrs and a large number of wounded as a result of the Israeli air force targeting a residential area... in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza."

Bassal also said that more than 400 martyrs from the various targeted areas in the northern Gaza Strip were recovered, including Jabalia and its refugee camp, since Israel's operation began.

"More than a year has passed, and every day our blood is shed," displaced Gazan Nasser Shaqura said outside a hospital in Deir el-Balah, where victims of an Israeli air strike were taken.

"Every day, every hour, there is a massacre," he said.

"This is what our lives have become."



87 People Killed or Missing in Northern Gaza's Beit Lahiya

Palestinians wounded in Israeli strikes lie on the ground at Kamal Adwan hospital, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip in this still image taken from a video, October 20, 2024. Reuters TV via REUTERS
Palestinians wounded in Israeli strikes lie on the ground at Kamal Adwan hospital, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip in this still image taken from a video, October 20, 2024. Reuters TV via REUTERS
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87 People Killed or Missing in Northern Gaza's Beit Lahiya

Palestinians wounded in Israeli strikes lie on the ground at Kamal Adwan hospital, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip in this still image taken from a video, October 20, 2024. Reuters TV via REUTERS
Palestinians wounded in Israeli strikes lie on the ground at Kamal Adwan hospital, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip in this still image taken from a video, October 20, 2024. Reuters TV via REUTERS

A total of 87 people were killed or missing under the rubble after an Israeli attack on Saturday on northern Gaza's town of Beit Lahiya, the Palestinian enclave's health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

More than 40 others were injured, it added.

The Israeli military said they were checking the report.

It said the figures did not align with its own information, the precise munitions used or the accuracy of the strike, which it said was directed at a Hamas target.
Palestinian health officials said rescue operations were being hampered by the cut-off of telecommunication and internet services for a second day. Earlier in the day, the Gaza health ministry said Israeli military strikes killed 35 Palestinians across the enclave.
Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 42,603 Palestinians and wounded 99,795, the Gaza health ministry said.