Israel continuously conducted the attacks as the humanitarian crisis in both Gaza and Lebanon deteriorated. States in northern Gaza, which has been under an Israeli blockade since early October, are particularly difficult. Despite the increased death toll and worsening plight of those still living in northern Gaza, ceasefire discussions that have resumed in Qatar are not expected to reach a breakthrough while Israel has moved to stop the operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which is the major lifeline for most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people.
Around 150 people are reported to have been slain in Israel’s latest aggression in northern Gaza and Lebanon. At least 93 Palestinians were killed when an Israeli attack flattened a five-storey residential structure housing displaced people in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya, the head of Gaza’s Government Media Office stated. Overnight, at least 60 individuals were killed in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.
Dr Hussam Abu Safia, the head of Kamal Adwan Hospital, the leading medical facility in northern Gaza, expressed more than 150 dead and injured had arrived after the attack. However, he cautioned that many of those injured may fail because of a lack of resources.
Israeli forces imprisoned dozens of medical staff at the hospital last week, leaving only three doctors.
“We call on the world to send specialised medical delegations,”
the doctor said.
The United States has requested Israel to describe the “horrifying” strike, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said. Miller expressed it was a “horrifying incident with a horrifying result.” Washington reached Israeli officials and
“made clear we want to know precisely what happened, how you could have a result that delivers, according to reports, dozens of children perished, and we don’t yet know the answer to that question,”
Miller stated.
The United Nations should urgently select, and UN member countries should back, an international investigation into the recent animosities in Lebanon and northern Israel, and ensure that it is sent immediately to collect information and make findings as to breaches of international law and recommendations for accountability.
