Israeli soldiers killed in northern Gaza: Army
The Israeli army has released a statement saying two of its soldiers have been killed in combat in northern Gaza. According to Israeli media, the total death toll of Israeli soldiers killed in the Strip since the start of the ground invasion stands at 357.
The army also said an officer was seriously wounded in southern Lebanon by an explosive-laden drone.
Ten people killed in northern Gaza: Report
We are receiving reports that at least 10 people have been killed in an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya.
Death toll from Beit Lahiya attack rises to 22
Palestine’s Wafa news agency reports that at least 22 people have been killed in an Israeli air strike targeting a residential complex in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza. The report said many people are trapped under the rubble and rescue teams are unable to reach them.
Gaza media office says 73 killed in northen Gaza
Gaza’s media office says at least 73 people have been killed in an Israeli attack in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza. Gaza’s Government Media Office says Israeli forces bombed overcrowded residential areas in Beit Lahiya, in the north of the Strip.
Dozens are wounded and missing, most of them children and women, it said.
‘Buildings collapsed while people were still inside’
The reports we are getting right now are that more than 70 people were killed in the Beit Lahiya Project area. That’s towards the western part of the northern Gaza Strip.
People were forced to evacuate to that area due to the scale and the intensity of the massive Israeli bombardment that was taking place in the more central and eastern parts, particularly in Jabalia.
So, many people were forced into that area, and as soon as they gathered, they got bombed and killed in the places they were seeking shelter.
The confirmed reports we got say multiple air strikes took place targeting an entire residential block in western Beit Lahiya cit – very packed with people, the local residents as well as those who evacuated earlier.
The attack was so massive that it shook the entire western part of Beit Lahiya. Buildings collapsed while people were still inside. They were not given a chance to leave or evacuate. No warnings were given to people to evacuate.
The numbers are going to be increasing in the coming hours as many people are trapped under the rubble.
Paramedics and Civil Defence crew are unable to get to that area given the intensity of the artillery and the fact that many of the surveillance drones are hovering and preventing anyone from getting close to that particular site.
Oxfam condemns killing of water engineers in Israeli attack in Gaza
The humanitarian organisation says four water engineers and workers were killed when they were attacked on their way to repair water infrastructure in Khuza’a, east of Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip.
“Despite prior coordination with Israeli authorities their clearly-marked vehicle was bombed,” Oxfam said in a statement. “Their deaths deepen the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza where access to clean water is already severely compromised,” Oxfam added.
The engineers and workers were from the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU) which Oxfam says it partners with. “Oxfam stands in solidarity with the CMWU, their partners and the families of the victims,” the statement added.
Five injured in Israeli attack on Deir el-Balah
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reports that at least five displaced Palestinians sheltering in a tent in the central Gaza Strip city were wounded when the Israeli army attacked a building adjacent to where they were staying.
Debris and shrapnel from the attack fell onto the tent, injuring those inside.
“I made a phone call to the Al-Aqsa Hospital emergency department and I was told the following: A man and a woman are in critical condition. They were transferred immediately to the operating theatre because they were bleeding severely as they were hit directly by the flying shrapnel,” Mahmoud said from Deir el-Balah.
