At least 17 dead in Israeli air strike on Gaza
A local hospital official said a home was hit in the refugee camp of Jabaliya.
An Israeli air strike on the northern Gaza Strip has killed at least 17 people, according to local hospital officials.
Dr Fadel Naim, director of the Al-Ahly Hospital in Gaza City, said nine women are among the dead and the death toll is likely to rise as rescue efforts continue.
He said they were killed in a strike on a home sheltering displaced people in the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya, where Israel has been carrying out an offensive for more than a month.
The Israeli military is yet to comment on the strike.
Israeli forces have encircled and largely isolated Jabaliya and the nearby towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun for the past month, allowing in only a trickle of humanitarian aid.
Hundreds of people have been killed since the offensive began on October 6, and tens of thousands of people have fled to nearby Gaza City.
Meanwhile in Lebanon, the health ministry said at least 20 people were killed in an Israeli air strike on Sunday.
It said the incident occurred in the village of Aalmat, north of the capital Beirut and far from the areas in the south and east of the country where the Hezbollah militant group has a major presence.
On Friday, experts from a panel that monitors food security in Gaza said famine is imminent in the north of the territory or may already be happening.
The northern third of Gaza, including Gaza City, was the first target of Israel’s ground invasion and has suffered the heaviest destruction of the 13-month war, which was triggered by Hamas’s attack into southern Israel. As in other areas of Gaza, Israel has sent forces back in after repeated operations, saying Hamas has regrouped.
The military says it only targets militants, whom it accuses of hiding among civilians in homes and shelters. Israeli strikes often kill women and children.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities who do not distinguish between civilians and militants in their count but say over half the fatalities were women and children.
Ceasefire talks mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt have repeatedly stalled since the start of the year.
Qatar, which has served as a key mediator with Hamas, said over the weekend that it had suspended its efforts and would only resume them when “the parties show their willingness and seriousness to end the brutal war and the ongoing suffering of civilians”.
