The death toll from Israeli attacks in central Gaza rises to 25, while 13 people are killed in Lebanon

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The death toll from Israeli attacks in the central Gaza Strip rose to 25, including five children, as more bodies were recovered, while officials said 13 people were killed today in airstrikes in Lebanon .

Sixteen people were initially killed in two attacks on the Gaza Strip’s central Nuseirat refugee camp, but Al-Aqsa Hospital officials said bodies were still being brought in.

In total, the hospital said there had been 21 deaths as a result of the strikes, including some who had been transferred from Awda Hospital, where they had been taken the day before.

One of the attacks killed an 18-month-old boy and his 10-year-old sister — the children’s mother was missing since today, while the father was killed by an Israeli airstrike four months ago, the family told The Associated Press at Aqsa Hospital. .

Four more people were killed in strikes on a motorcycle in Zuwaida and on a house in Deir al-Balah today, hospital officials said, bringing the total death toll to 25.

The Israeli military told the AP that it had hit a Hamas infrastructure site and a militant operating in the Nuseirat area, but did not comment on the other attacks.

It said it was aware of reports of civilian casualties and was investigating.

Israel’s blistering offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians since October 7, 2023, say Gaza health officials, who make no distinction between civilians and fighters. They say more than half of the dead are women and children.

The Ministry of Health in Hamas-held Gaza said today that a total of 55 people were killed and another 196 injured in the past 24 hours.

Israel began bombing Gaza after Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, when the militants killed about 1,200 people and took some 250 hostages into Gaza.

Despite growing pressure from the United States and others in the international community for a ceasefire in both Gaza and Lebanon, the Israeli Air Force today launched multiple strikes in Lebanon.

An attack in the northeastern Baalbek-Hermel region killed eight people when a house was hit in the village of Amhaz, and another two in the village of Taraya, the Lebanese State News Agency reported.

In recent days, Israel has intensified its airstrikes on the northeastern city of Baalbek and nearby villages, as well as on several parts of southern Lebanon.

Three more people were killed and five injured in an airstrike on the outskirts of Qamatiyeh, southeast of Beirut, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

An AP journalist who arrived at the scene said the strike took place closer to the nearby village of Ein al-Rummaneh, adding that minor damage was caused to a first-floor apartment.

The Israeli military said in a statement that attacks “in the Beirut area” targeted Hezbollah weapons production sites, command centers and other infrastructure.

Israeli planes also stormed Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh last night, destroying dozens of buildings in several neighborhoods, according to the Lebanese state news agency.

The first airstrikes today on Dahiyeh came after a four-day lull in which no airstrikes were reported in the suburb. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said more than 2,800 people have been killed and 13,000 injured since October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel almost daily, prompting retaliation.

Jens Laerke of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid said there has also been a “wave of displacement” in recent days as tens of thousands of people have fled following warnings from the Israeli military that attacks were imminent.

Hezbollah has fired thousands of missiles, drones and rockets into Israel since Hamas’s attack on Israel last year – and carried out fierce Israeli retaliatory attacks. Both Hezbollah and Hamas are supported by Iran, Israel’s regional opponent.

On Thursday, four Thai workers and an Israeli farmer were killed in a farming area in Metula, Israel’s northernmost city. The four were among seven people killed on Thursday in a series of barrages fired into Israel from Lebanon.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said today that his “personal and sincere condolences” went out to the government of Thailand, the Thai people and the families of the dead.

“Hezbollah-Iranian terrorism knows no borders and harms both Israelis and citizens around the world,” he said in a statement.

Cross-border attacks by Hezbollah have so far killed 41 civilians and 30 soldiers in Israel, according to government figures.

___

Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Bassem Mroue in Beirut, David Rising in Bangkok and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this story.