The civil defense agency in Gaza reported that an Israeli airstrike on a residential area resulted in the deaths of at least 73 Palestinians in Beit Lahia, located in the northern part of the territory. Israel claimed the strike was aimed at a “Hamas terror target.”
“Our civil defense teams recovered 73 martyrs along with a significant number of wounded due to the Israeli airforce targeting a residential area… in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza,” stated Mahmud Bassal, spokesperson for the civil defense agency, in a conversation with AFP.
“There are still martyrs trapped under the rubble,” he further noted.
Mr. Bassal mentioned that the homes of several families were affected by the strike, which occurred late on Saturday.
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The Israeli military contested the casualty figures reported by Gaza officials.
The military stated that its initial assessment indicated the casualty numbers “do not correspond with the information available to the IDF (Israel Defense Forces), the specific munitions used, and the precision of the strike on a Hamas terror target.”
It did not provide additional details regarding the identity of the strike’s target.
In an effort to prevent Hamas militants from re-establishing themselves in northern Gaza, Israel initiated a significant air and ground offensive on October 6, further tightening its blockade of the war-torn region and causing tens of thousands of individuals to flee.
Before the most recent airstrike, the operation had already claimed the lives of over 400 individuals in northern Gaza, according to Mr. Bassal’s earlier statements to AFP on Saturday.
