Gaza civil defence says 30 dead after Israeli air strike

Gaza's civil defence agency said 30 people were killed on Sunday, including children, and dozens were missing after an Israeli air strike hit a building in the Palestinian territory's north.

Israel's army told AFP that it had conducted overnight strikes and hit "terrorist targets" in the area.

After the strike early Sunday, 30 bodies were pulled from the rubble of the five-storey residential building in Beit Lahia, "including children and women", civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP, updating a previous figure of 26.

Seven people were injured, Bassal added. Earlier on Sunday he said at least 59 people were missing.

"The chances of rescuing more wounded are decreasing because of the continuous shooting and artillery shelling," Bassal said.

AFP images showed men covered in dust scrambling to reach people under the rubble, as some of the bodies were taken away on a donkey-pulled cart.

Other AFP images showed the flattened building with broken concrete and twisted metal sticking out from the ruins as more bodies covered in blankets lay nearby.

Vowing to stop Hamas militants from regrouping in already ravaged north Gaza, Israel on October 6 began a major air and ground assault that began in Jabalia and then expanded to Beit Lahia.

Israel's army said there were "ongoing terrorist activities in the area of Beit Lahia", adding: "Overnight, several strikes were conducted on terrorist targets in the area."

"We emphasise that there have been continuous efforts to evacuate the civilian population from the active war zone in the area," the ministry said in a statement.

Hamas, which runs the territory, accused Israel of committing a "massacre" which it said is "a continuation of the genocidal war and revenge against unarmed civilians".

- 'Halt atrocities' -

Palestinian presidency spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh condemned the United States, Israel's biggest supporter, for "enabling this continued bloodshed".

In a statement issued from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, he also demanded that "the United States force Israel to stop its aggression and comply with international law".

The Palestinian foreign ministry urged the international community to act to "immediately halt these atrocities".

Earlier on Sunday, Gaza's civil defence said other Israeli strikes killed at least 20 people, including four women and three children, across the war-torn territory.

Gaza's health ministry on Sunday said the overall death toll in more than 13 months of war had reached 43,846.

The majority of the dead are civilians, according to ministry figures, which the United Nations considers reliable.

Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.