Israeli army confirms four soldiers killed in north Gaza battle.
GAZA/ BEIRUT - The Ministry of Health in Gaza said that the number of people killed in an airstrike early Tuesday in Beit Lahiya has risen to 93, adding that 25 children are among the dead.
Earlier, the ministry had previously said that 77 people were killed or missing in the strike in northern Gaza. According to local journalists, some bodies are being buried immediately in makeshift graves because official burial places are too dangerous to access. One video showed the preparation of a mass burial site in a local market place.
One man, Abu Mohammad Abu Naser, who said he was in a building that was hit, added that there were about 200 people inside, including children and the elderly. He said he had lost his wife and four children, as well as his father and siblings.
“Everyone is gone,” Abu Naser said. He added that most of the occupants were displaced members of one extended family.
Meanwhile, at least 60 people were killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, the Lebanese health ministry said. Two children were among those killed in strikes which targeted 16 areas in the Baalbek region, officials said.
The ministry said 58 people were wounded, adding rescue efforts were still under way in the valley, which is a Hezbollah stronghold. Also, the Israeli army said Tuesday that four of its soldiers fell in combat in the northern Gaza Strip during a single incident in which one other soldier was severely wounded.
“During the incident in which Captain Yehonatan (Joni) Keren, Staff Sergeant Aviv Gilboa, Staff Sergeant Nisim Meytal and Staff Sergeant Naor Haimov fell, an officer in the Multidimensional Unit (888) was severely injured,” the army said in a statement, adding the wounded officer was evacuated to hospital. According to the army, 367 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the military campaign in Gaza since the start of the ground operation in the Palestinian territory on 27 October last year.