More than 90 people, including 20 children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in Gaza early Tuesday, local officials said, marking the deadliest attack in months as Israel wages a renewed assault on the northern part of the Palestinian enclave.
This attack occurred just hours after the Israeli parliament outlawed a key United Nations aid agency, a move that could severely restrict the supply of medicine, food, and education in the already devastated territory.
In Lebanon, the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah named a new leader—former deputy Sheikh Naim Kassem—following the elimination of its powerful chief, Hassan Nasrallah, and his presumed successor.
No doctors to treat the wounded, officials say
The strike hit a five-story building in the northern city of Beit Lahia, which housed approximately 200 people, according to the Gaza government media office. Some 93 people were reported killed, with another 40 people missing and dozens injured.
The nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of Gaza’s last functioning medical facilities, had no doctors available to treat the injured due to a dayslong siege by Israeli forces, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
“Critical cases without intervention will succumb to their destiny and die,” the Health Ministry stated.
According to local officials, more than 43,000 people have been killed in the Israeli military’s year-long offensive on the enclave, which commenced following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that left approximately 1,200 Israelis dead and around 250 kidnapped.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) acknowledged reports of civilian casualties in the Beit Lahia area. They stated that the details of the incident are currently under investigation and emphasized that they conduct targeted operations while striving to avoid unnecessary harm to uninvolved civilians. The IDF asserted that the area had been evacuated and is deemed an active combat zone.
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UNRWA ban raises aid fears
As aid organizations and officials raise alarms about a spiraling crisis in northern Gaza, the Israeli parliament, known as the Knesset, passed legislation on Monday that could exacerbate the situation.
The new law prohibits the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) from operating within Israel or contacting Israeli authorities.
This controversial measure has faced backlash from Israel’s allies, including the United States. International consensus holds that UNRWA plays an essential role in mitigating the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza. However, Israel has long criticized the agency, accusing it of being infiltrated by Hamas, which intensified following the events on October 7.
Established in 1949 to provide assistance to the 700,000 Palestinians displaced by conflicts surrounding the establishment of Israel, UNRWA is currently the key provider of food, water, medicine, and other vital resources to Gaza’s approximately 2 million residents.
This legislation will come into effect in three months and could considerably restrict, if not entirely halt, UNRWA’s operations in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where access is controlled by Israel.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, described the passage of this law as “unprecedented” and tantamount to “collective punishment” for the Palestinian population, which has faced more than a year of severe hardship. He asserted that this measure would leave 650,000 children without education and claimed it violates Israel’s obligations under international law.
“This is the latest in the ongoing campaign to discredit UNRWA and delegitimize its role,” he stated.
The U.S. expressed “deep concern” regarding Israel’s new law, emphasizing that the agency plays a critical role in delivering essential humanitarian assistance to civilians in need in Gaza, as noted by State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller during a briefing on Monday.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has recently returned from a diplomatic tour in the Middle East, which included discussions in Israel, a nation that receives over $3 billion in military aid annually from the U.S. A coalition statement from countries including Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, and Britain echoed “grave concern” regarding this legislation, emphasizing that UNRWA provides essential and life-saving humanitarian aid, the absence of which would make provision “severely hampered, if not impossible.”