At least 77 killed in Israeli strike on northern Gaza building

At least 77 Palestinians, including 20 children, were killed in an Israeli strike on a residential building sheltering displaced people in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya on Tuesday, the Gaza health ministry said.

Marwan Al-Hams, an official at the health ministry in the enclave, said 17 other people were missing and would be counted as dead, and 150 people were wounded.

The director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, Dr. Hussam Abu Safia, told Al Jazeera TV channel that dozens of the injured arrived at the facility and that many any of them may die because of the lack of resources.

“The world must take action and not just watch the genocide in the Gaza Strip,” he added. “We call on the world to send specialized medical delegations to treat dozens of wounded people in the hospital.”

There was no immediate Israeli comment. 

Video footage showed several bodies wrapped in blankets on the ground outside a bombed four-storey building. More bodies and survivors were being retrieved from under the wreckage as neighbours rushed to help with rescue.

"There are tens of martyrs (dead) - tens of displaced people were living in this house. The house was bombed without prior warning. As you can see, martyrs are here and there, with body parts hanging on the walls," Ismail Ouaida, a witness who was helping to recover bodies, said in the video.

On Monday, the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said around 100,000 people were marooned in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun without medical or food supplies. 

Northern Gaza's Jabalia has been under siege for more than 20 days. Around 1,000 people have been killed in the area during this time. Health officials said the majority killed were women and children.

Gaza's emergency service said its operations had come to a halt because of the three-week Israeli assault into northern Gaza. Israel says its campaign is to destroy Palestinian militant group Hamas, whose fighters had returned to the area in the year-long war.