Gaza's Beit Lahia declared disaster zone as Israeli strikes kill scores

The municipality of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza declared a state of disaster on Wednesday amid relentless Israeli attacks on north Gaza.

On Tuesday an Israeli strike on a five-storey house killed at least 93 people, including 25 children, according to Gaza's ministry of health. Gaza's civil defence said that 40 people were missing under the rubble.

The attack was labeled as "horrifying" by both US State Department spokesperson Mathew Miller and EU Foreign Policy chief Josep Borrell.

The latest attacks come amid Israel's 25-day siege of northern Gaza, during which around 1,000 people have been killed, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The siege and bombardment have caused severe damage to the area's basic infrastructure, including the Kamal Adwan Hospital which has been shelled and raided by Israeli forces.

The hospital has appealed for doctors in northern Gaza to help treat patients at the facility, after Israeli forces rounded up and detained dozens of medical staff.

"There is an ongoing ethnic cleansing and genocide against the civilians of northern Gaza and against the healthcare system," Kamal Adwan Hospital director Dr Hussam Abu Safieh said in a statement shared by Medical Aid for Palestine (MAP).

The healthcare system is completely collapsing; anyone who arrives at the hospital dies immediately." 

Meanwhile, Israeli attacks across Gaza on Wednesday morning killed at least 19 people, with strikes being reported in Deri el-Balah, Khan Younis and Gaza City.

At least 43,061 people have been killed and a further 101,223 wounded in Israel's year-long war on the enclave.

Amid the extensive attacks in north Gaza, the Israeli Knesset's banning of the UN's Palestine Refugees Agency (UNRWA) has drawn further condemnation globally over fears it will collapse aid distribution.

UNRWA chief Phillipe Lazzarini announced on X that he had written to the President of the UN General Assembly on the issue.

In the letter, Lazzarini said  that UNRWA "is under such psychical, political, and operational attack – unprecedented in United Nations history – that implementation of its mandate may become impossible without decisive intervention be the General Assembly".

He also said the refugee status of Palestinians would not be affected, although the decision would harm Palestinians, and noted that 237 UNRWA staff have been killed by Israel in the war.

"I seek Member States' support, commensurate with the gravity of the situation, to ensure the Agency's ability to fully implement the mandate conferred by the General Assembly," he added.