Middle East

Dozens of Civilians Killed in Air Raids in South Gaza

‘HORRIFIC’

A U.N. official demanded Saturday that the “horrors must stop.”

Smoke rises from an explosion in Gaza on October 28, 2023 seen from Sderot, Israel.
Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Dozens of civilians were reportedly killed by an Israeli-led airstrike in a residential area of south Gaza on Saturday.

According to Reuters, which cited medics, at least 47 people died from the air raid, and many others were said to have been killed and wounded in a separate attack in north Gaza at a school that had been made into a shelter for people who had been displaced by the Israel-Hamas War.

U.N. Relief and Works Agency Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini condemned the attacks on X, the platform formally known as Twitter.

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“These attacks cannot become commonplace, they must stop,” Lazzarini wrote. “A humanitarian ceasefire cannot wait any longer.”

Lazzarini added that the school housed more than 4,000 people and that children were among the dead.

“Schools are not spared,” he wrote. “ENOUGH, these horrors must stop.”

The U.N. also reported on X that civilians tried to escape Al-Shifa hospital, the largest hospital in Gaza, during attacks.

“Horrific events of past hours in #Gaza, incl…Israeli demands to leave Khan Younis, underscore need for immediate ceasefire,” the U.N. Human Rights account posted. “Civilians must come first. They must be protected.”