Gaza homes f lattened killing 76 members of one family
MORE than 90 Palestinians – including dozens from the same extended family – were killed in Israeli air strikes on two homes yesterday, rescuers and hospital officials have said.
It comes after the UN chief warned that Israel’s offensive is creating ‘massive obstacles’ to distribution of humanitarian aid.
Yesterday the Israeli military said troops arrested hundreds of alleged militants in Gaza over the past week and transferred more than 200 of them to Israel for further interrogation, providing rare details on a controversial policy of mass round-ups of Palestinian men.
The army said more than 700 people with alleged ties to the militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad have so far been sent to Israeli lock-ups.
Israel declared war after Hamas gunmen stormed across the border on October 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking some 240 hostages.
More than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s war to destroy Hamas and more than 53,000 have been wounded, according to health officials in Gaza, a besieged territory ruled by the Islamic militant group for the past 16 years.
Despite mounting international calls for a ceasefire, Israel has vowed to fight until Hamas is destroyed and removed from power in Gaza and all the hostages are freed.
The Biden administration has shielded Israel in the diplomatic arena. On Friday, the UN Security Council adopted a watered-down resolution that calls for immediately speeding up aid deliveries to desperate civilians in Gaza, but not for a ceasefire.
The Health Ministry in Gaza yesterday evening said 201 people had been killed over the past 24 hours.
On Friday, air strikes flattened two homes, one in Gaza City and the other in the urban refugee camp of Nuseirat.
The Gaza City strike killed 76 people from the al-Mughrabi family, making it one of the deadliest of the war, said Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for Gaza’s Civil Defence department.
He gave the names of 16 heads of households within the family and said the dead included women and children.
Among those killed were Issam al-Mughrabi, a veteran employee of the UN Development Programme, his wife and their five children.
‘The loss of Issam and his family has deeply affected us all. The UN and civilians in Gaza are not a target,’ said Achim Steiner, the head of the agency. ‘This war must end.’
Later on Friday, a strike pulverised the Nuseirat home of Mohammed Khalifa, a local TV journalist, killing him and at least 14 others, according to officials at nearby Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital where the bodies were taken.
Mourners held funeral prayers yesterday in the hospital’s courtyard while rescue teams continued to search for survivors.
‘UN and civilians in Gaza are not a target’