A total of 87 people were killed or missing under the rubble after an Israeli air strike on Saturday on northern Gaza’s town of Beit Lahiya, with more than 40 wounded, the Palestinian enclave’s health ministry said on Sunday.
The Israeli military has said it was investigating reports of the incident, which left one of the highest casualty tolls in months. Earlier, it said a total of 73 reported by the Hamas media office appeared exaggerated given the nature of the munitions used in the strike, which it said hit a Hamas target.
Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry said rescue operations were being hindered by communications problems and by the Israeli military operation still going on around the area, close to the border line with Israel, the ministry said.
“Victims are still under the rubble and on the road and ambulance teams and civil emergency can’t reach them,” it said in a statement.
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The strike, late on Saturday night, came two weeks into a major operation around the town of Jabalia, just to the south of Beit Lahiya, where Israeli troops backed with tanks have been trying to squeeze out remaining Hamas fighters.
The UN special co-ordinator for the Middle East peace process, Tor Wennesland, issued a statement on Sunday, in which he says “relentless Israeli strikes” are being launched in Gaza where nowhere is safe for civilians to escape bombardments.
“The nightmare in Gaza is intensifying. Horrifying scenes are unfolding in the northern Strip amidst conflict, relentless Israeli strikes and an ever-worsening humanitarian crisis. I condemn the continuing attacks on civilians,” Mr Wennesland posted on X.
“Hostages must be freed, displacement of Palestinians must cease, & civilians must be protected,” he added.
Evacuation orders, directing people south, have fuelled fears among many Palestinians that the operation is intended to clear them out of the northern part of Gaza in order to help ensure Israeli control of the area after the war.
Israel has denied any such plans, saying it is trying to protect civilians and separate them from Hamas fighters.
The military says it has killed scores of armed Palestinian fighters, located weapons, and dismantled a variety of military infrastructure during the operation in Jabalia, home to one of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps.
Residents in Jabalia said Israeli forces raided shelters housing displaced families and detained dozens of men.
At least 42,603 Palestinian people have been killed and 99,795 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7th, 2023, the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
Of those, 84 Palestinians were killed in the latest 24-hour reporting period, according to the ministry, which has said in the past that thousands of other dead people are most likely lost in the rubble of the territory.
Elsewhere, Binyamin Netanyahu’s house in the seaside town of Caesarea was hit by a drone on Saturday, causing superficial damage and no casualties.
Neither Mr Netanyahu nor his wife, Sara, were home at the time.
“The attempt by Iran’s proxy Hizbullah to assassinate me and my wife today was a grave mistake,” Mr Netanyahu said in a statement, vowing that Iran and its proxies would “pay a heavy price”.
Two Israeli air strikes targeted south Beirut early on Sunday, Lebanese state media reports.
“Enemy [Israeli] airplanes carried out two strikes this morning on Beirut’s southern suburbs, one of them hitting a residential building in Haret Hreik” near a mosque and a hospital, the National news agency reported.
Israel said its air force on Sunday had attacked Hizbullah’s intelligence headquarters and an underground workshop for the production of weapons in Beirut.
The Israeli army ordered civilians located near buildings it claimed were “affiliated with Hizbullah” in two neighbourhoods in south Beirut to immediately evacuate early this morning.
Israel struck dozens of south Lebanon villages and towns overnight and targeted Nabatiyeh city for a third time this week, Lebanese state media reports.
“Warplanes struck ... the city of Nabatiyeh seven times,” Lebanon’s official National News Agency said, adding that Israeli jets “conducted strikes” on over 50 towns and villages.
G7 defence ministers have expressed their concern over Israel’s latest attacks on Unifil in Lebanon. The group, which has been meeting in Naples, Italy, said: “We are concerned by the latest events in Lebanon and the risk of further escalation. We express concern over all threats to Unifil’s security.”
The US government is investigating an alleged leak about classified US intelligence on Israel’s strikes against Iran, CNN reports.
CNN reports that the documents which date from October 15th and 16th started circulating on Friday on Telegram through an account called the Middle East Spectator.
The investigation is also examining how the documents were obtained – including whether it was an intentional leak by a member of the US intelligence community or obtained by another method, like a hack – and whether any other intelligence information was compromised, the Associated Press reports. – Agencies