At least 87 people were killed in an Israeli strike on Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, overnight Saturday, the health ministry in Gaza says.
The number killed included 27 bodies retrieved so far and 60 people under the rubble. More than 40 people had been injured, including a number of very critical cases, the ministry said.
CNN cannot confirm the figures but they match the numbers provided by Kamal Adwan hospital, where victims have been taken.
A woman crying amid the damage said: “We were sitting and talking to each other when suddenly a large concrete block fell on us. What remains? They have killed all the people.”
One unidentified man at the scene said Sunday morning that there were displaced people in four homes that were destroyed.
Video and images from the scene show frantic efforts overnight to rescue those trapped and recover bodies, with no machinery and little light. Many of the bodies being retrieved or brought into Kamal Adwan hospital were those of children. Daylight images appear to show that two or three substantial apartment buildings were flattened.
CNN has asked the Israeli military whether the site of the airstrike in Beit Lahia was within one of the areas included in an evacuation order.
Remember: The Israeli military has issued a number of evacuation orders for northern Gaza this month where it has renewed its ground offensive.
