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At least 65 people, including women and children, were killed in Israeli strikes overnight into Wednesday in Deir El-Balah in Central Gaza, according to local health workers.
On Wednesday morning, officials at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital said 65 of the victims brought to the hospital had died.
Umm Shadi says in a video obtained by CNN that her daughter’s building was hit in the early hours of Wednesday morning, killing her and one of her children in their sleep. Her four surviving children are being treated in the hospital’s ICU. Shadi said there had been no warning the area would be targeted by the IDF.
The video shows several dead children and women at the hospital as their relatives grieve.
![Women embrace in a corridor at a hospital in Deir el-Balah on June 4.](https://dynaimage.cdn.cnn.com/cnn/digital-images/org/df3daea9-c661-415a-b4de-bbe234e1d0dc.jpg)
Women embrace in a corridor at a hospital in Deir el-Balah on June 4. Bashar Taleb/AFP/Getty Images
On Wednesday, the IDF released a statement saying “troops have started a targeted operational activity in the areas of Bureij and eastern Deir al Balah both above and below ground,” based on “intelligence” indicating the presence of Hamas fighters.
The IDF statement added that troops are continuing operations in Central Gaza and Rafah on Wednesday.