At least 15 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed today after an Israeli drone strike in the northern Gaza Strip city of Beit Lahia, an official Palestinian source told Wafa news agency.
For nearly 20 days, the north of the enclave has been under Israeli siege, which has caused more than 500 deaths and tens of thousands of people displaced, according to UN data.
"We believe that about 56,000 people have been displaced from the northern Strip to Gaza City since the beginning of [Israeli] operations," UN Refugee Agency director Sam Rosa told EFE.
Meanwhile, thousands of people refuse to leave their homes in the north, with nowhere to go and fearing Israeli attacks, especially after having received countless exit orders since the war began more than a year ago.
In Gaza, 90% of the population is displaced and the majority have had to move on more than one occasion.
The three main hospitals in the area -- Indonesian, Al Awda and Kamal Adwan -- are overcrowded and struggling to respond to the constant arrival of bodies and wounded, after being attacked in recent days by Israeli artillery.
The Israeli army, for its part, assured today, in a statement, that its troops "continue to fight in the area, while allowing the exit of civilians on designated routes"
"In a single attack, we eliminated 10 terrorists who posed a threat," the statement said, describing troops as completing an operation in the Beit Lahia area in which they dismantled "several terrorist tunnels".
On the last day, the Israeli air force also reached a variety of military material in the area of Rafah, at the southern end of the Strip, which "was ready to be fired against Israel", he added.
Since the beginning of the Israeli offensive against Gaza in October 2023, more than 42,600 people have died - most of them women and children - and nearly 99,800 have been wounded, according to data from the Gaza Ministry of Health, which does not include thousands of deaths or suicides due to disease or infection.
