Deir Al-Balah (Gaza Strip), 27 Oct

Israeli strikes on northern Gaza have killed at least 22 people, mostly women and children, Palestinian officials said Sunday, as its offensive in the hard-hit and isolated north entered a third week and aid groups described a humanitarian catastrophe.

In a separate development, a truck rammed into a bus stop near Tel Aviv, injuring dozens of people, according to Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service. The circumstances were not immediately clear, but Palestinians have carried out dozens of vehicle-ramming attacks over the years.

The Gaza Health Ministry's emergency service said that 11 women and two children were among those killed in the strikes late Saturday on several homes and buildings in the northern town of Beit Lahiya. It said another 15 people were wounded and that the death toll could rise. It listed the names of those killed, who mostly came from three families.

The Israeli military said it carried out a precise strike on militants in a structure in Beit Lahiya and took steps to avoid harming civilians. It disputed what it said were “numbers published by the media,” without elaborating or providing evidence for its own account.

Israel is still carrying out daily strikes across Gaza, even as it wages and air and ground war with the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. Two people were wounded after an explosive drone launched from Lebanon slammed into a building in an industrial area of northern Israel, authorities said. An Israeli airstrike on a southern neighbourhood of Beirut sent flames and smoke climbing into the air.

On Saturday, Israeli warplanes attacked military targets in Iran — which backs both Hamas and Hezbollah — in response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack earlier this month.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Sunday that Israel's attack “should not be exaggerated nor downplayed,” while stopping short of calling for retaliation. His remarks are the latest suggesting Iran is carefully weighing its response to the attack.

“It is up to the authorities to determine how to convey the power and will of the Iranian people to the Israeli regime and to take actions that serve the interests of this nation and country," said Khamenei, who has the final say over all major decisions in Iran.

The cascading conflicts have raised fears of an all-out regional war pitting Israel and the United States against Iran and its militant proxies, which also include the Houthi rebels in Yemen and armed groups in Syria and Iraq.

Red Cross describes 'horrific circumstances' in northern Gaza

Israel has been waging a massive air and ground offensive in northern Gaza since October 6, after saying that 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 yearlong war.

Israel says its strikes on Gaza only target militants, and it blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the militants fight in densely populated areas. The military rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.

Aid groups have warned of a catastrophic situation in northern Gaza, which was the first target of Israel's ground offensive and had already suffered the heaviest destruction of the war. Israel has severely limited the entry of basic humanitarian aid in recent weeks, and the three remaining hospitals in the north — one of which was raided over the weekend — say they have been overwhelmed by waves of wounded people.

The International Committee of the Red Cross on Saturday said that ongoing Israeli evacuation orders and restrictions on the entry of essential supplies to the north had left the civilian population in “horrific circumstances.”

“Many civilians are currently unable to move, trapped by fighting, destruction or physical constraint and now lack access to even basic medical care,” it said.

Hospital reels after Israeli raid detains dozens of medics

Israeli troops raided the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north on Friday, detaining dozens of medical staff and causing heavy damage, according to the Health Ministry. Footage circulated online showing the courtyard bulldozed and the wards ransacked. Israeli troops withdrew on Saturday.

The head of the World Health Organisation said 44 male staff members were detained at the hospital. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said only female staff, the hospital director and one male doctor were left to care for almost 200 patients.

Among those detained and taken away was Dr. Mohamed Obeid, head of the orthopedics' department at nearby Al-Awda Hospital, according to Al-Awda Hospital. His whereabouts are unknown.

Throughout the yearlong Israel-Hamas war, Israeli forces have stormed and bombarded a number of hospitals including the strip's largest medical facility, Shifa Hospital. Israel accuses Hamas of using medical facilities across Gaza for military purposes, allegations denied by hospital staff, who say the raids have recklessly endangered sick and wounded civilians.

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 around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, around a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to the local Health Ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count but says more than half of those killed were women and children. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The offensive has devastated much of the impoverished coastal territory and displaced around 90 per cent of its population of 2.3 million, often multiple times. Hundreds of thousands of people have crowded into squalid tent camps along the coast, and aid groups say hunger is rampant.-AP