GAZA: At a funeral in Gaza on Monday a line of Palestinians touched white shrouds containing the bodies of at least 70 people who Palestinian health officials said were killed by an Israeli airstrike targeting Maghazi in the centre of the besieged strip.
It followed one of the enclave's deadliest nights in the 11-week-old battle between Israel and Palestinian groups. One man hugged a dead child and others were hysterical.
"The walls and the curtains fell on us," said one man. "I reached down to my four-year-old child but all I found were rocks."
Strikes that began hours before midnight persisted into Monday. Palestinian media said Israel stepped up air and ground shelling in central Gaza.
Health ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra said many of those killed at Maghazi were women and children. Eight others were killed as Israeli planes and tanks carried out dozens of airstrikes on houses and roads in nearby Al-Bureij and Al-Nusseirat, health officials said.
Medics said an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis in southern Gaza killed 23, bringing total Palestinian fatalities overnight to more than 100.
Several residents made pleas on social media for people to afford them shelter as they have become homeless after leaving their homes in Bureij.
"I have 60 people in the house, people who arrived at my house believing that central Gaza area was safe. Now we are searching for a place to get to,” said Odeh, a resident of the refugee camps.
The Israeli army said it was reviewing the report of a Al-Maghazi incident and was committed to minimising harm to civilians. Palestinian groups deny the Israeli charge that it operates in densely populated areas or uses civilians as human shields.
The Palestinian Red Crescent published footage of wounded residents being transported to hospitals. It said Israeli warplanes were bombing main roads, hindering the passage of ambulances and emergency vehicles.
Israel has besieged the narrow Gaza Strip and laid much of it to waste, with more than 20,400 people confirmed killed and thousands more believed dead under the rubble.
The vast majority of the 2.3 million Gazans have been driven from their homes, and the United Nations says conditions are catastrophic.
The Israeli military said on Monday that two of its soldiers had died in the last day, bringing to 158 the number killed since ground operations began on October 20.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had acknowledged the "heavy cost" but said there was "no choice" but to continue to fight deeper into Gaza until "total victory". — Reuters
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