8 of family among 38 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes

Israeli air attacks across the Gaza Strip killed at least 38 Palestinians on Wednesday, most of them in a strike on a house in Beit Lahiya on the northern edge of the enclave, medics said.

Hospital records show one Israeli strike on a home in northern Gaza killed 19 people including a family of eight — four children, their parents and two grandparents.

The Beit Lahiya strike killed at least 22 people, including women and children, health officials said. Relatives listed the names of the dead on social media.

More than 30 people were living in the multi-storey building before it was struck, and several family members remained missing as rescue operations continued through the morning, the Palestinian WAFA news agency said.

"We have received distress calls from neighbours and trapped people, but we’re not able to leave the hospital because of the continued risk,” said the director of the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital.

The Palestinians urged United Nations member countries to vote in favour of resolutions demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and supporting the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees, which Israel has moved to ban in Palestinian territories.

The Palestinian mission to the United Nations issued the urgent appeal to the 193 UN member nations ahead of Wednesday afternoon’s votes on the resolutions in the General Assembly, whose members have has been listening to two days of speeches overwhelmingly supporting the measures.
Israel and close ally the United States have spoken against the resolutions.

Agencies