At least 17 killed as Israeli airstrike flattens home in Gaza's Beit Lahia

At least 17 people were killed in a new Israeli airstrike in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahia on Monday, according to a medical source.

Israeli warplanes hit and flattened a residential building near Kamal Adwan Hospital in the area, the source said.

Eyewitnesses said dozens of people and displaced civilians were inside the building at the time of the attack.

Efforts are still underway to search for survivors under the rubble.

Since Oct. 5, Israel has launched a large-scale ground operation in northern Gaza to allegedly prevent Palestinian resistance group Hamas from regrouping. Palestinians, however, accuse Israel of seeking to occupy the area and forcibly displace its residents.

Since then, no humanitarian aid, including food, medicine, and fuel, was allowed into the area, leaving most of the population there on the verge of imminent famine.

More than 2,000 people have since been killed, according to Palestinian health authorities.

The onslaught was the latest episode in a brutal Israeli war on the Gaza Strip that has killed over 43,900 people, mostly women and children, since Oct. 7, 2023.

Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its deadly war on Gaza.