CORRECTS At least 25 killed as Israeli jets flatten home in Gaza’s Beit Lahia

CORRECTS DATE IN THIRD PARA

By Hosni Nadim

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - At least 25 people were killed when Israeli warplanes hit and levelled an inhabited home in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, a local source said on Monday.

Witnesses said that efforts were still ongoing to search for survivors under the rubble of the building in Beit Lahia Project area, where women and children had sheltered.

Since Oct. 7, Israel has launched a large-scale ground operation in northern Gaza to allegedly prevent the Palestinian resistance group Hamas from regrouping. Palestinians, however, accuse Israel of seeking to occupy the area and forcibly displace its residents.

Since then, almost no humanitarian aid, including food, medicine, and fuel, has been allowed into the area, leaving most of the population there – currently estimated at 80,000 – on the verge of famine.

More than 2,700 people have since been killed in northern Gaza, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Overall, the Israeli onslaught that began after a Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023 have killed more than 44,400 people in Gaza, and the enclave is now uninhabitable.

On Nov. 21, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its deadly war on Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara