16 killed in Israeli airstrikes

Palestinian officials claimed that Israeli airstrikes killed 16 persons, including five women and four children, in the Gaza Strip.

A strike early Monday flattened a home in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least 10 people. The Awda Hospital, which received the bodies, confirmed the toll and said another 13 were wounded.

Another strike on a home in Gaza city killed six people, including a woman and two children, according to the Civil Defence.

UN human rights experts criticised Western states on Monday for continuing to support Israel despite what they described as a “genocide in Gaza that might turn Israel into a ‘pariah’ nation”.

The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza as a result of more than 11 months of conflict has prompted questions about Western states’ long-standing political and military support for Israel, including from the United States and Britain, which provide arms.

“In the face of the abyss reached in the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT)...most member states remained inactive at best, or actively aiding and assisting Israel’s criminal conduct,” Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the OPT, said in a press conference in Geneva, repeating allegations of genocide.

However, Israel denies these allegations, asserting that it takes steps to reduce the risk of harm to civilians and that at least a third of the Palestinian fatalities in Gaza are militants. — AP/Reuters