palestinian medical officials say an israeli strike in northern gaza killed 34 people

Palestinian Medical Officials Say An Israeli Strike In Northern Gaza Killed 34 People

An Israeli strike on a five-story building where displaced Palestinians were sheltering in the northern Gaza Strip killed at least 34 people early Tuesday, more than half of them women and children, Gaza's Health Ministry said.

The ministry's emergency service said another 20 people were wounded in the strike in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, near the Israeli border.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has been waging a large-scale operation in northern Gaza for more than three weeks, targeting what it says are pockets of Hamas militants who have regrouped there.

The dead included a mother and her five children, some of them adults, and a second mother with her six children, according to an initial casualty list provided by the emergency service.

Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, the director of the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital, said it was overwhelmed by the wave of wounded people from the strike. Israeli forces raided the medical facility over the weekend, detaining dozens of medics.