Israeli strike kills 76 members of one Gaza family, say rescue officials

More than 90 Palestinians, including dozens from an extended family, were killed in Israeli airstrikes on two homes, rescuers and hospital officials said on Saturday, a day after the UN chief warned again that nowhere is safe in Gaza and that Israel’s offensive is creating "massive obstacles” to distribution of humanitarian aid.

At least 201 Palestinians have been killed over the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 20,258 during the 11-week conflict, the Palestinian health ministry said on Saturday, with thousands more bodies believed trapped under rubble. Almost all of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been displaced.

On Friday, airstrikes flattened two homes, one in Gaza City and the other in the urban refugee camp of Nuseirat in the center of the territory.

The Gaza City strike killed 76 people from the Al Mughrabi family, making it one of the deadliest of the war, said Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for Gaza’s Civil Defence department. He provided the names of 16 heads of households within the family, and said the dead included women and children.

Among the dead were Issam Al Mughrabi, a veteran employee of UN Development Programme, his wife, and their five children. "The loss of Issam and his family has deeply affected us all. The UN and civilians in Gaza are not a target,” said Achim Steiner, the head of the agency. "This war must end.”

Later on Friday, a strike pulverized the Nuseirat home of Mohammed Khalifa, a local TV journalist, killing him and at least 14 others, according to officials at the nearby Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital where the bodies were taken. Mourners held funeral prayers Saturday in the hospital’s courtyard while rescue teams continued to search for survivors. The legs of at least two bodies were seen under what appeared to be a collapsed roof.

Later on Saturday, residents and Palestinian media reported that Israeli tanks shelled the town of Juhr Ad-Deek in central Gaza. There was no immediate word on casualties.