DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli attacks on northern Gaza have killed at least 22 people, Palestinian medical officials said.
The Gaza Health Ministry's emergency department said 11 women and two children were among the victims in the attacks late Saturday on several homes and buildings in the northern city of Beit Lahiya. It said another 15 people were injured and the death toll could rise.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Israel has been waging a major air and ground offensive in northern Gaza for the past three weeks after saying Hamas militants had regrouped there. Hundreds of people have been killed and tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled to Gaza City in the latest wave of displacement in the years-long war.
Israel continues to carry out daily attacks across Gaza even as it wages war with the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. On Saturday, Israeli warplanes attacked Iran – which backs both Hamas and Hezbollah – in response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack earlier this month.
The successive conflicts have raised fears of an all-out regional war pitting Israel and the United States against Iran and its militant allies, which also include the Houthi rebels in Yemen and armed groups in Syria and Iraq.
Israel says its attacks on Gaza target only militants, blaming Hamas for civilian casualties because the militants fight in densely populated areas. The military rarely comments on individual attacks, which often kill women and children.
The war began when Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel's border wall and stormed into southern Israel in a surprise attack on October 7, 2023. They killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 250. About 100 remain in custody hostages in prison. Gaza, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.
More than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's retaliatory offensive, according to the local health ministry. She does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in her count, but says more than half of the dead were women and children.
The offensive has destroyed much of the impoverished coastal region and displaced around 90% of the population, often several times. Hundreds of thousands of people have gathered in squalid tent camps along the coast, and aid groups say hunger is rampant.
