The Israeli military renewed an offensive there earlier this month, saying it was trying to eliminate a regrouped Hamas presence in the area.
Rescuers were combing the rubble and searching for survivors on Sunday in the town of Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza, where Palestinian officials said an overnight Israeli airstrike hit a residential building and killed dozens of people.
The Gazan Health Ministry said on Sunday that at least 87 people were killed or were missing, with more than 40 others wounded.
“A number of victims are still under the rubble,” it said in a statement, adding that ambulances and rescue workers were having difficulty reaching the site. The Palestinian civil defense, an emergency service, said “dozens” of people had been killed and wounded in the attack, which was reported before midnight on Saturday.
There was no immediate comment from Israel’s military, which late on Saturday issued a statement saying it was examining what had happened. In that statement, it also disputed an initial toll from Hamas officials saying dozens of people had been killed. Those numbers, the military said, “do not align” with its initial assessment.
The Israeli military renewed an offensive earlier this month in northern Gaza, saying it was trying to eliminate a regrouped Hamas presence in the area. Roughly 400,000 people remain in northern Gaza, according to the United Nations, and many have been trapped in their ruined neighborhoods by Israeli airstrikes.
The U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Tor Wennesland, noted that the Beit Lahia strike came after “weeks of intensified operations that have resulted in scores of civilian fatalities.”
“The nightmare in Gaza is intensifying,” he wrote on social media. “Horrifying scenes are unfolding in the northern Strip amidst conflict, relentless Israeli strikes and an ever-worsening humanitarian crisis.”
Al Jazeera broadcast footage on Sunday of the immediate aftermath of the strike, which showed residents and rescue workers pulling limp bodies — including those of small children — from the rubble. Images taken at the scene on Sunday showed what appeared to be a completely flattened building.
Details of the strike were scarce and it was difficult to reach people in northern Gaza by phone. On Saturday, Paltel, a major Palestinian cellular provider, said the renewed Israeli offensive had caused wide-ranging communication blackouts in the northern part of the enclave.
Iyad Abuheweila contributed reporting.
Raja Abdulrahim reports on the Middle East and is based in Jerusalem. More about Raja Abdulrahim
