35 killed in Israeli attack on Gaza residential block

At least 35 people have been killed and dozens of others were wounded in an Israeli attack on a residential block in Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood, medical sources told Al Jazeera.

The Gaza Health Ministry said it expected the death toll from Wednesday’s attack in northern Gaza to rise, as civil defence teams and residents dug frantically to locate dozens of missing residents believed to be trapped under the rubble.

The Israeli military said the raid targeted a senior Hamas fighter, but did not give his name, claiming that it had taken several steps to reduce harm to civilians.

Ayub Salim, 26, a resident of Shujayea, told Al Jazeera that some victims were “torn to pieces” by the attack with “multiple missiles” that sent shrapnel flying.

“Dust and massive destruction filled the entire place. We couldn’t see anything, just [heard] the screams and panic of the people,” he said.

Reporting from Shujayea, Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim Al Khalili said civil defence forces and local residents had come together to pull trapped civilians from under the rubble. Most of the victims had come to live in the block after being “forcibly displaced”, he said.

Israel resumed its aerial bombardment of Gaza on March 18 after a nearly-two-month truce with Hamas, and later expanded its ground assault across the territory. More than 1,400 people have been killed since Israel resumed its assault, according to Palestinian health authorities.