At least 73 people died in the strike, doctors and officials say; Israeli army disputes casualty numbers and says attack was directed at a Hamas target
An Israeli airstrike that hit several houses and a multi-storey residential building in the town of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza caused dozens of casualties, doctors and officials said.
The Hamas media office said at least 73 people had been killed in the strike on Saturday. No official figures were immediately available from the health ministry, however Medway Abbas, a senior health ministry official, said the figures were accurate.
The Israeli military said it was looking into the incident but that the numbers issued by the Hamas media office were exaggerated. 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.
Residents and medics on Saturday said Israeli forces had tightened their siege on Jabalia, the largest of the enclave’s eight historic camps, which it encircled by also sending tanks to the nearby towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and issuing evacuation orders to residents.
Israeli officials said evacuation orders were aimed at separating Hamas fighters from civilians and denied there was any systematic plan to clear civilians out of Jabalia or other northern areas.
