50 killed, missing after Israeli strike in Gaza

• Israeli air force strikes over 75 targets across Gaza 
• Four major hospitals have had to suspend medical services
• Netanyahu accuses France, Britain, Canada of 'emboldening' Hamas

More than 50 Palestinians were killed or remain missing after an Israeli air raid on a residential building in the Jabalia al-Balad area of northern Gaza, the civil defence said yesterday.

Civil defence crews described the scene as a "horrific massacre", reporting that they recovered the bodies of four victims and rescued six others from the rubble.

However, more than 50 people are still believed to be trapped under the debris of the four-storey building, reports Al Jazeera online.

The Israeli army said that over the past day, its forces had attacked "military compounds, weapons storage facilities and sniper posts" in Gaza.

"In addition, the (air force) struck over 75 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip," it added.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that Gaza's health system is at a breaking point as Israel's intensified military operations continue, amidst worsening mass population displacement and acute shortages of basic necessities.

Four major hospitals in Gaza have had to suspend medical services in the past week due to their proximity to incidents. WHO missions attempting to reach Al-Awda Hospital and the Indonesian Hospital were impeded, it said.

A few of the 90-odd UN trucks able to ferry humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip for the first time since March were "intercepted" by desperate residents, a United Nations spokesman said Thursday.

"We understand that a small number of trucks carrying flour were intercepted by residents and their contents removed," said the spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.

A total of 107 aid trucks belonging to the United Nations and other aid groups carrying flour, food, medical equipment and pharmaceutical drugs were transferred on Thursday into the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said.

In a separate development, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the leaders of France, Britain and Canada of wanting to help the Palestinian group Hamas after they threatened to take "concrete action" if Israel did not stop its latest offensive in Gaza, reports Reuters.

The criticism, echoing similar remarks from Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Thursday, was part of a fightback by the Israeli government against the increasingly heavy international pressure on it over the war in Gaza.

Israel resumed major operations in Gaza on March 18, ending a two-month ceasefire.

On Thursday, Gaza's health ministry said at least 3,613 people had been killed in the territory since then, taking the war's overall toll to 53,762, mostly civilians.