More than 50 children were reportedly killed in Jabalia in northern Gaza between Friday and Saturday, the United Nations agency UNICEF said.
The deaths occurred when “strikes leveled two residential buildings sheltering hundreds of people,” Catherine Russell, UNICEF’s executive director, said in the statement on Saturday.
She also cited two attacks on the polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, one in which no UNICEF workers were injured when their car came under fire, and a second in which at least three children were reportedly injured near a vaccination clinic in Sheikh Radwan, in the north of the Strip.
These attacks “are yet further examples of the grave consequences of the indiscriminate strikes on civilians in the Gaza Strip,” Russell said, calling on Israel for “an immediate investigation into the circumstances surrounding the attack on its staff member.”
Palestinian authorities also condemned the attack in Sheikh Radwan, saying it wounded six people, including four children.
Israeli military spokesperson Nadav Shoshani denied responsibility, saying that “contrary to the claims, an initial review determined that the [Israeli military] did not strike in the area at the specified time.”
Meanwhile, a new intelligence analysis reported Sunday by newspaper Israel Hayom suggests that 51 of the 101 hostages held by Hamas are still alive. Although officials have confirmed only 37 deaths among the other hostages, the latest analysis suggests that the remaining 50 hostages are dead, according to the report.
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