Israeli attack kills at least 73 people in northern Gaza, medics say

Israeli strikes killed at least 73 people, including women and children, in the northern Gaza city of Beit Lahia, the strip’s Hamas-run government said.

Dozens more were injured and many remained trapped under rubble after the bombing on Saturday night, officials added.

Israel said it was checking reports of casualties but said figures released by the Hamas government were “exaggerated” and did not match information held by the country’s military.

Fighting also continued to be reported in southern Lebanon as well as south Beirut on Sunday morning, where smoke was seen rising above the city.

Israel said its air force attacked “about 175 terrorist targets” in Gaza and Lebanon over the past day.

The Hamas-run government media office said the bombing in Beit Lahia on Saturday night hit “dense” residential areas and that 73 people were killed – a figure also reported by the civil defense agency. reported by Gaza’s Hamas-run organization. The BBC cannot independently verify the figures.

According to Palestinian news agency Wafa, entire neighborhoods were destroyed during the strike.

Gaza health officials added that rescue efforts in Beit Lahia are currently being hampered by communications and internet services in the area being cut off.

The latest attacks came just hours after reports of heavy gunfire by Israeli troops at Indonesia Hospital in the city.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told the BBC that they had attacked a “Hamas terrorist target” and were “doing everything possible to avoid harm to civilians”.

They said the number of casualties given by the Hamas office was “exaggerated” and said such sources “have proven to be extremely unreliable in previous incidents”.

Israel began a new military offensive in northern Gaza in early October, saying it was trying to prevent Hamas from regrouping in the area.

In particular, Israeli forces surrounded and bombarded the densely populated Jabalia area, including the urban refugee camp – with at least 33 people believed to have died in a strike late on Friday.

Humanitarian groups have warned that virtually no aid has entered the area in the past few weeks. Israel’s own statistics show an overall decline in aid deliveries to Gaza compared to the same period in September.

The United Nations’ top humanitarian official, Joyce Msuya, said on Saturday that Palestinians in northern Gaza were suffering “indescribable horror” and called for an end to “atrocities”. This “violence”.

Israel has repeatedly denied blocking humanitarian aid into Gaza, but the United States has asked it to increase access or risk having some American military aid cut off.

Meanwhile, Israel has carried out at least a dozen air strikes on Beirut on Saturday, in the heaviest attack the Lebanese capital has seen in more than a week.

Damage and casualties are still being assessed, but at least one multi-storey building in the city’s southern suburbs was completely destroyed.

The Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah’s weapons storage facilities and the intelligence headquarters’ command center in Dahieh.

Smoke was seen rising from south Beirut in the early hours of Sunday after the Israeli military ordered the immediate evacuation of two neighborhoods in the area.

The IDF told civilians that they were “located near facilities and interests linked to Hezbollah, which the IDF will cooperate against in the near future”.

Hezbollah also continued to fire rockets into northern Israel on Saturday, with the Israeli military saying about 200 projectiles – usually meaning rockets – were fired.

Israel’s Magen David Adom health agency said one person was killed by shrapnel while in a car.

Also on Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said an attempt was made on his life following reports of a drone attack at your own residence.

“The attempt by Iran’s proxy Hezbollah to assassinate me and my wife today was a serious mistake,” he wrote in a post on X.

Mr. Netanyahu and his wife were not home at the time and no one was injured.

Iran said Hezbollah was behind the reported attack, Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported. Hezbollah – which is funded and armed by Iran – has not commented on the reports.

The Hamas-run government says at least 42,519 people have been killed and tens of thousands injured in Gaza since the war began last October.

The war began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, leaving about 1,200 people dead and 251 taken to Gaza as hostages. Israel vowed to destroy Hamas in response.

Earlier this week, the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza raised some hopes for an end to the conflict.

However, the group’s deputy leader said Hamas would only be strengthened and the Israeli hostages would not be returned until Israel withdrew from Gaza.

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also said on Saturday that Sinwar’s death would not stop the “Axis of Resistance” – a regional network of heavily armed militias, Iran backs against Israel.

“Hamas is still alive and will remain alive,” Khamenei’s statement added.