GAZA / BEIRUT: Nearly 100 people were murdered Tuesday by an Israeli airstrike on a single home block in Beit Lahiya, leaving rescuers searching among the debris for survivors. According to medics, at least 20 children were among the deceased.
Israeli strikes on Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley resulted in at least 60 fatalities, including children, and 58 injuries.
In a separate incident, a rocket attack on the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) headquarters in Naqoura injured eight Austrian soldiers.
Desperate family members and Palestinian rescuers gathered around the destroyed five-story building in the northern Gazan neighborhood of Beit Lahiya.
As shocked family members tried to identify the deceased, a burnt body with long hair dangled out of a window in the top story and corpses covered in blankets were arranged in a line in the street below.
60 people were murdered in attacks on the Bekaa Valley and almost 100 in an airstrike in Beit Lahiya; the US envoy pressed Israel on the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Speaking to AFP, Gaza civil defense agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal said, “The number of martyrs in the massacre of the Abu Nasr family home in Beit Lahiya has increased to 93 martyrs, and about 40 are still missing under the rubble.”
Rabie al-Shandagly, 30, who sought shelter in a nearby Beit Lahiya school, stated, “The explosion happened at night and I first thought it was shelling, but when I went out after sunrise I saw people pulling bodies, limbs, and the wounded from under the rubble.”
“There are no hospitals or adequate medical care, and people are trying to save the injured, but the majority of the victims are women and children,” he told AFP.
Attacks in Lebanon
Videos posted on social media seemed to show locals in the town of Boudai begging for the dispatch of heavy machinery to assist in the rescue of those thought to be trapped. As rescuers looked for the injured, social media footage revealed damaged buildings and burning trees.
The BBC was informed by the regional leader of Baalbek’s Civil Defence workers that the airstrikes resembled a “ring of fire.”
“The night was extremely violent,” Bilal Raad remarked.
“The area seemed to be suddenly encircled by a ring of fire.”
He stated that “residential quarters where civilians live or near them” were the objective of the strikes, and that search and rescue operations had been hindered by a lack of equipment.
According to him, 16 members of the same family were slaughtered in the town of Al-Allaq, which was the most severely affected.
UNFIL soldiers
The Austrian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that a rocket strike on Camp Naqoura, which is close to the Israeli border, injured UNIFIL soldiers.
The ministry issued a statement saying, “We condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms and demand that it be investigated immediately.” It also added that the source of the attack was unknown and that none of the soldiers required emergency medical attention.
The US warns Tel Aviv The US representative to the UN claimed that Israel was failing to solve Gaza’s “catastrophic humanitarian crisis.” The announcement was made just before Washington set a deadline for Israel to make improvements or risk having its access to US military assistance restricted.
“Israel must act on the ground in accordance with its words. That isn’t occurring at the moment. US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the Security Council, “This needs to change—immediately.”
In a letter dated October 13, the United States instructed its partner Israel to take action within 30 days.
