At least 115 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, medical sources told WAFA, the vast majority being killed by an attack on an apartment building in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza.
The medical sources said at least 109 Palestinians, including many women and children, were killed by the strikes on the building in Beit Lahia. Earlier reports put the death toll at 93, including 25 children.
According to Middle East Eye, the five-story building was owned by the Abu Naser family, who recently took in many displaced Palestinians. At the time of the strike, it was estimated that 300 to 400 people were sleeping in the building.
Many of the people wounded in the strike were dying due to the lack of medical resources in the area, which has been under total siege since early October as Israel is attempting to carry out an ethnic cleansing plan in northern Gaza. The nearby Kamal Adwan hospital was recently attacked by Israeli forces and is unable to treat the wounded.
“We cannot treat those wounded in the Beit Lahia massacre due to lack of resources,” Dr. Hussam Abu Safia, the hospital’s director, told Al Jazeera. “Most of those injured may die due to lack of resources. The world must act and not just watch the genocide in Gaza.”
The massacre was bad enough for the US to say it was concerned about the attack, but there’s no sign it will impact US military aid for Israel. “We are deeply concerned by the loss of civilian life in this incident. This was a horrifying incident with a horrifying result,” said State Department spokesman Matt Miller, who acknowledged the “reports of two dozen children killed.”
As usual, Miller said the US would ask the government of Israel about the incident instead of calling for any kind of accountability. “We have reached out to the government of Israel to ask what happened here,” he said.
Israeli strikes were also reported in Gaza City and near the southern city of Rafah. Gaza’s Health Ministry said in its daily update that 41 Palestinians were killed in the previous 24-hour period, bringing its recorded death toll to 43,061. At the time, it said 93 were killed or missing in the strike in Beit Lahia.
The Health Ministry’s numbers do not account for the Palestinians who are missing and presumed dead under the rubble. “A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them,” the ministry wrote on Telegram.