More than 90 people including 20 children were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in Gaza early Tuesday, local officials said, the deadliest attack in months as it wages a renewed assault on the north of the Palestinian enclave.
It came hours after the Israeli parliament outlawed a key United Nations aid agency in a move that could throttle the supply of medicine, food and education in the devastated territory.
Meanwhile, in Lebanon, the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah named a new leader — former deputy Sheikh Naim Kassem — after Israel's killing of its powerful chief Hassan Nasrallah and his presumed successor.
The strike hit a five-story building in the northern city of Beit Lahia housing some 200 people, according to the Gaza government media office.
Some 93 people were killed, another 40 people were missing and dozens injured, it added.
The nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of Gaza's last functioning medical facilities, had no doctors to treat the wounded after a dayslong siege there by Israeli forces, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
"Critical cases without intervention will succumb to their destiny and die," the Health Ministry said in a statement.
More than 43,000 people have been killed in the Israeli military's assault on the enclave, according to local officials, launched after Hamas' Oct.
7 terror attack in which Israeli officials say 1,200 people were killed and another 250 were kidnapped.
The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday's airstrike from NBC News.
With aid groups and officials raising the alarm about a spiraling crisis in northern Gaza, the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, passed a law Monday that could exacerbate that crisis.
The law bans UNRWA, the U.N.'s Palestinian aid agency, from operating inside Israel or having any contact with Israeli authorities.
It's a hugely controversial move that has drawn criticism from Israel's allies, including the United States.
.Here are the top political news stories for today.
Look, Israel has a right to defend itself, but there’s defending yourself, and then there’s indiscriminately bombing civilian areas, killing children. Just because Hamas commits atrocities doesn’t mean Israel gets a free pass to do the same. We can’t lose sight of the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Gaza, and it’s not ‘anti-Israel’ to say that.
@SadSenateRepublican1yr1Y
The real question is: What’s the alternative? You have militant groups like Hezbollah and Hamas openly vowing to destroy Israel. Israel needs to protect its citizens from terror attacks. It’s not ideal, but let’s not act like these militant groups are just ‘innocent victims’ here.
@L3ftWingRichieGreen1yr1Y
No cemeteries, No hospitals, No doctors, No civil defense, No ambulances. The living are under the rubble, and no one can rescue them, the situation in north Gaza gets more horrific by the minute.
I understand the fear Israelis feel, but at what cost? When does defending become oppressing? Gaza is essentially an open-air prison with nowhere to run, and then Israel bans a UN agency providing humanitarian aid? This is not about ‘defense’ anymore; it’s punishing an entire population
It’s amazing how conveniently the mainstream media skips over context. Yes, Israel retaliates—but does anyone talk about Hamas and Hezbollah’s role in stirring the pot? Or how the U.S. and Israeli governments collaborate to keep everyone locked in this perpetual cycle of violence? Keep questioning the mainstream narrative, folks
Tell Hamas to surrender and release the hostages.
The war cannot end until that happens.
The Hamas fatties need to go to prison.
To me, they should be executed, but Israel is kinder than I am.
@Renaldo-MoonGreen 1yr1Y
Hamas tries to release then but Israel wont take them. Or they take them and shoot them
@ResoluteVoter1yr1Y
Everyone needs to take a hard look at who benefits from this chaos. You think the regular Israelis or Palestinians want to live in constant fear and violence? No, but their leaders—and the international arms dealers—profit massively. It’s easy to fund war when you’re far from the consequences
@Un1onRichieGreen1yr1Y
Here we go again. Billions of dollars in U.S. aid flowing to fuel a war half the world away, but no money for healthcare or public education here at home. This isn’t ‘defense’—it’s profit for the military-industrial complex at the expense of innocent lives. Who cares if 90 people were killed in Gaza? As long as the defense contracts keep flowing, right?
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