Over 100 killed in Israeli strike on residential building sheltering displaced families in Gaza’s Beit Lahiya

In a deadliest attack in months, at least 105 people, including 20 children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a five-story residential building sheltering displaced families in Gaza’s Beit Lahiya early Oct 29, health officials said.

The strike came hours after the Israeli parliament outlawed a key United Nations aid agency — UNRWA — in a move that could throttle the supply of medicine, food, and education in the war-torn territory.

The building which came under attack housed around 200 people of displaced families, according to the Gaza government media office. At least 105 people were killed, another 40 people were reported missing and dozens injured, it added.

The nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of Gaza's last functioning medical facilities, had no doctors to treat the wounded after a dayslong siege there by Israeli forces, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

"Critical cases without intervention will succumb to their destiny and die. " the ministry said in a statement.

Gaza civil defense agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal was quoted as saying, "The number of martyrs in the massacre of the Abu Nasr family home in Beit Lahiya has risen to 93 martyrs, and about 40 are still missing under the rubble."

Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement said that it was "aware of reports that civilians were harmed today (Oct 29) in the Beit Lahiya area. The details of the incident are being looked into."

IDF urged the media "to act cautiously about information released by Hamas sources, as they have been proven to be deeply unreliable in previous incidents."

"Military is conducting targeted operations and making efforts to avoid causing harm to uninvolved civilians. We emphasize that the area was evacuated by the IDF and it is currently an active combat zone." IDF statement read.

With aid groups and officials raising the alarm about a spiraling crisis in northern Gaza, the Israeli parliament passed a law on Oct 29 that could exacerbate that crisis.

The law bans UNRWA — the United Nations' Palestinian aid agency — from operating inside Israel or having any contact with Israeli authorities.

The controversial move has drawn criticism from Israel's allies, including the U.S.

UNRWA was established in 1949 to provide aid to the 700,000 Palestinians driven from their homes by the war surrounding the creation of Israel. It is the main supplier of food, water, medicine, and other essential supplies to Gaza’s 2 million people.

The organization's head, Philippe Lazzarini, called the vote "unprecedented" and "nothing less than collective punishment" for the Palestinians after more than a year of "sheer hell."

In a post on X, he said the bill would deprive 650,000 children of their education, accusing it of violating Israel's obligations under international law.

"This is the latest in the ongoing campaign to discredit UNRWA and delegitimize its role," he wrote.

Pertinently, the Israeli military has been conducting a sweeping air and ground assault in northern Gaza since Oct 6 - particularly around Jabalia, Beit Lahia, and Beit Hanoun - in what it describes as an operation to prevent Palestinian resistance group Hamas from regrouping.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been forced to flee the area with over 12 months into the war sparked by Hamas militants launching a deadly cross-border assault into Israel on October 7 last year.